Karla Faye Tucker (November 18, 1959 – February 3, 1998) was an American woman sentenced to death for killing two people with a pickaxe during a burglary.

[2] She was the first woman to be executed in the United States since Velma Barfield in 1984 in North Carolina, and the first in Texas since Chipita Rodriguez in 1863.

[8] During her parents' divorce proceedings when she was 10 years old, Tucker learned that her birth was the result of an extramarital affair.

Garrett struck Dean numerous times in the back of the head with a ball-peen hammer that he found on the floor.

Tucker wanted to "stop him from making that noise" and she then picked up a three-foot pickaxe that was lying against the wall and began hitting Dean.

[14] Garrett left the bedroom again to continue loading Dean's motorcycle parts into his Ford Ranchero.

The woman, Deborah Ruth Thornton, had argued with her husband the day before, went to a party and ended up spending the night in Dean's bed.

Tucker would later tell people and testify that she experienced multiple intense orgasms with each blow of the pickaxe.

[17][18] The next morning, one of Dean's co-workers, who had been waiting for a ride, entered the apartment and discovered the victims' bodies.

Tucker shared her death row cell at the Mountain View Unit with Pam Perillo, whose own sentence was eventually commuted.

Among those who appealed to the State of Texas on her behalf were Bacre Waly Ndiaye, the United Nations commissioner on summary and arbitrary executions; the World Council of Churches; Pope John Paul II;[25] Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi; the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich; televangelist Pat Robertson; and Ronald Carlson, the brother of Tucker's murder victim Debbie Thornton.

[28] While on death row, Tucker was incarcerated in the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.

[33] She selected four people to watch her die, who included her sister Kari Weeks, her husband Dana Brown, her close friend Jackie Oncken, and Ronald Carlson.

Tucker's execution was also witnessed by members of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Warden Baggett, and various representatives of the media.

As the deadly chemicals were being administered, she praised Jesus Christ, licked her lips, looked at the ceiling, and hummed.

[35] In the year following her execution, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson questioned Governor Bush about how the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had arrived at the determination on her clemency plea.

Carlson alleged that Bush, alluding to a televised interview which Karla Faye Tucker gave to talk show host Larry King, had smirked and spoken mockingly about her.

[clarification needed][36] A full-length movie was released in 2004 about the life of Tucker entitled Forevermore starring actress Karen Jezek.

[37] The captain of the "Death House Team," Fred Allen, was interviewed by Werner Herzog for the 2011 documentary Into the Abyss.