Posted Nov. 12, 2007 -- Everybody Hates Chris" star Tichina Arnold has signed on to play the lead in "The Lena Baker Story," about the first woman in the state of Georgia sent to the electric chair, reports the Hollywood Reporter.    

Baker became a sex slave to her white employer and killed him, claiming self-defense. She was pardoned by the state two years ago, some 60 years after her execution.   

:: AD ::

The film is a cradle-to-grave story that offers a real perspective on Lena as opposed to just one incident," writer-director-producer Ralph Wilcox tells the Reporter. "Race does play a part, but this story is really about a woman torn between a rock and a hard place.

The $2.5 million project is reportedly the first filmed in the new 22,000-square-foot Jokara-Micheaux production facility in Colquitt, Ga, marking an important step toward revitalizing one of the poorest districts in the United States.   

Beverly Todd will play Baker's mother, while Peter Coyote stars as her victim. Michael Rooker will portray the sheriff who arrested her.