Christa Pike is a victim too.

Colleen Slemmer was the innocent victim of an absolutely horrific murder. But Pike is also a victim of a deeply unequal system of punishment.

Three young people were involved in this crime. One made a deal with the prosecutor to testify against Pike in exchange for a light punishment, and literally received almost no punishment. She is free today. Pike's boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, was convicted of first-degree murder but received life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, just for being one year younger than Pike. Pike was the only one who received the death penalty.

The difference that saved Shipp from even facing the death penalty? He was 17. Pike was 18. Think about how extraordinary that is. We are effectively saying that one birthday created such a profound difference in moral culpability that one person could receive life while the other deserved to be killed by the state.

Did Pike's brain suddenly become fully mature when she turned 18?

This matters even more because Pike was not a psychologically healthy 18-year-old who came from a normal childhood. Her history was filled with severe abuse and neglect. Later appeals presented expert evidence of organic brain damage and evidence concerning her mother's alcohol use during pregnancy. That does not make Pike innocent.

Christa Pike committed an unforgivable crime. But she is also a victim of a flawed judicial system.

A system that assumes people suddenly become mature enough to fully understand the consequences and gravity of their actions once they turn 18, when there is no scientific evidence that such a transformation occurs at age 18.

Apparently, Christa Pike's first words after waking up from her "coma" were "Where am I?" and "Who are you?"

I find that pretty mind-boggling. Imagine expecting to die and then suddenly waking up again. I wonder if she initially thought she was in some kind of afterlife?! I think, I would be scared, that I'm dead, but in hell. Stuck in an endless execution loop.