KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The mother of Colleen Slemmer is pleased with the latest decisions centered on the execution of her daughter’s killer.

Christa Gail Pike, now 50, was convicted for killing 19-year-old Slemmer in 1996. She has spent 30 years on death row and is the only female on death row in Tennessee.

She is scheduled for execution by lethal injection on Sept. 30.

Pike’s lawyers went to court earlier this month to challenge the state’s method of execution, but a special judge rejected most of those challenges.

During the hearing, her legal team argued Pike has a blood condition called thrombocytosis. They claimed lethal injection would cause her “unconsтιтutional suffering.”

In a report obtained by WBIR on Friday, Senior Judge Mark Ward said Pike will lose consciousness 20 to 30 seconds after the lethal drug is injected, well before she could feel any pain. The Tennessee Supreme Court will now review the judge’s report.

May Martinez said she was surprised with Judge Ward’s decisions.

“I thought they would change their minds and give [Pike] what she wanted,” Martinez said during an interview on Sunday. “I was happy that he came up with a decision.”

Martinez also said she doesn’t believe Pike deserves a painless death.

“I would feel better that she felt the same pain that Colleen did,” she said. “She did the crime. I think she should pay for it.”

In 1995, Pike, along with her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, tortured and beat Slemmer. They cut a pentagram in her chest. Pike also bashed Slemmer’s skull with a chunk of asphalt.

Investigators estimated the torture lasted 30 minutes to an hour.

Pike kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy. Martinez said it took her 16 years to get the skull back.

Martinez hopes Pike’s execution will bring her some peace.

“It’s been a long journey, a hard journey,” she said. “I can be happy. I can go on with my family,”

But until Martinez gets the last piece of her daughter’s skull, she said she won’t feel like justice was served.