When the Machinery of Death Fails By Paul Huebl Christa Pike committed a crime of almost unimaginable cruelty and evil. Her guilt was never seriously in question. She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. For three decades, she fought a losing battle through the courts until every avenue of appeal had seemingly been exhausted. It is difficult to argue against the death sentence imposed for such a monstrous crime. But what followed raises a question far more troubling than the original verdict: How many times should the government be permitted to try to kill the same condemned human being? For years, Christa Pike lived beneath the terrible shadow of an approaching execution. Government officials assured her that she would die. The date was set, the executioners were preparing, and the machinery of death was ready. Imagine the psychological torment of those final days. The calendar itself becomes an instrument of torture. Days dissolve into hours, hours surrender to minutes, and ...