On February 3rd, 1998, Karla Faye Tucker became the first woman to be executed in Texas since 1863 for the 1983 pickax murder of a Houston man. The execution which culminated months of intense international media coverage primarily focused upon Tucker's gender and status as a born‐again Christian. Public figures with diverse political backgrounds, including Pat Robertson and Bianca Jagger, publicly expressed support for Tucker while various victims’ rights groups and others vocally supported the impending execution. Consequently, media coverage outside the death chamber the day of the execution reached circus‐like proportions with a record crowd of over 500 crowd participants, scores of media correspondents, and over 25 media satellite trucks gathered in Huntsville to witness this historic event (Turner and Milling, 1998).