A picture taken on December 4, 2007 shows death row inmate Christa Pike entering a Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tennessee, US., obtained by Reuters on September 30, 2026. J. Miles Cary/ Knoxville News Sentinel/USA TODAY NETWORK via REUTERS NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Witness John North with WBIR recounts the planned execution of Christa Pike at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Sept. 30, 2026. Pike had not been declared dead when the witnesses were asked to leave the room they were witnessing in. Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.
FILE PHOTO: Christa Gail Pike, 36, the only woman on Tennessee's Death Row, is pictured in this 2004 Tennessee Department of Correction booking photograph obtained by Reuters March 22, 2012. A prison guard and the boyfriend of Pike, have been charged in connection with a plan to break her out of the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville. A grand jury indicted 23-year-old Justin Heflin, previously a correctional officer at the Tennessee Prison for Women, on one count of bribery, one count of official misconduct, one count of conspiracy to commit escape and one count of facilitation to commit escape. Donald Kohut, 34, an acquaintance of Pike who frequently visited her in prison, was indicted on one count of bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit escape. REUTERS/Tennessee Department of Correction/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: CRIME LAW SOCIETY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS/File Photo
