Christa Pike to be first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years - but her defence say she's a victim too

Image source, Tennesse Department of Corrections Image caption, Christa Pike's lawyers have filed a clemency petition seeking to commute her sentence ahead of the 30 September execution date

Ashlee Sellars last heard from her friend Christa Pike earlier this week, when Pike texted her from her cell on death row as she prepares to be killed by lethal injection by the US state of Tennessee.

Pike told Sellars she does not want any of her loved ones to be present on Wednesday when she is executed.

"She doesn't want us to experience that," Sellars says.

Sellars finds it hard to reconcile this woman, whom she has only known to be kind and protective, with the person who committed a heinous crime 31 years ago.