Tennessee Prisoner Requests All-Female Team Ahead of Execution

Christa Pike has requested that an all-female team carry out her execution in the US state of Tennessee, citing sexual abuse she experienced during childhood.

The request comes two days before her scheduled execution on September 30. Pike is seeking to have women, rather than men, take responsibility for carrying out the sentence.

Her appeal places her history of childhood sexual abuse at the center of a request about how the execution would be conducted, rather than whether it should proceed.

If the execution goes ahead as scheduled, Pike will become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.