TUCKER TODAY (02/03/1998)
Karla Faye Tucker is scheduled to be put to death tonight for the pickax murders of two people in 1983. Attorneys for the born-again Christian are scrambling to save her life.They had asked Texas Governor George W. Bush for a stay, but pinned most of their hopes on the U-S Supreme Court...but the Supreme Court refused to block the scheduled execution of Karla Faye Tucker for the pickax slayings of two people in texas.The court turned down Tucker's emergency request to halt her execution and keep her from becoming the first woman executed in Texas since the Civil War and the first in the nation since 1984.There was no dissent, and the justices' brief order made no comment on the case.As she awaits execution by lethal injection, Tucker is spending a quiet day with family.Tucker's husband, father and sister are visiting her in Huntsville, texas.Tucker ate some crackers and had a soft drink today. A prison spokesman says Tucker hadn't eaten since monday and "was starting to feel a little weak."She has requested a last meal of fruit and salad.