Tennessee is scheduled to execute Christa Pike on Wednesday, September 30, making her the first woman put to death by the state in about 200 years if the execution proceeds.
Pike, now 50, was 18 when she was convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at Knoxville Job Corps, in 1995. Prosecutors said Pike viewed Slemmer as a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded area, where Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, tortured and killed her. A pentagram was also carved into Slemmer’s body, drawing widespread attention to the case during the 1990s.
Pike does not dispute her responsibility for Slemmer’s death. However, her lawyers have argued that her death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment because of her age at the time of the crime, untreated mental illness and a childhood marked by severe sexual abuse and neglect. Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Her lawyers say those circumstances were not adequately presented to the jury during the sentencing phase of her 1996 trial.
Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell has argued that greater understanding of adolescent brain development has changed how courts view crimes committed by young people. He also pointed out that Shipp, who was 17 when Slemmer was killed, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole because he was too young for the death penalty.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to grant Pike clemency on Monday. Her attorneys have since asked the US Supreme Court to halt the execution. Pike’s lawyers have also challenged Tennessee’s execution method and made requests concerning how the execution should be carried out. Her primary legal effort, however, remains an attempt to have her death sentence replaced with life imprisonment.
Slemmer’s Family Supports Execution
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has said she wants the execution to proceed after waiting decades for Pike’s sentence to be carried out.
Martinez has described the lasting impact of losing her daughter, who was 19 when she was killed. She remembered Slemmer as a young woman who volunteered with the Special Olympics, enjoyed roller skating and hoped to pursue a career in computers.
“Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run,” Martinez said.
Pike has expressed remorse for the killing. In a statement included in her clemency petition, she acknowledged the harm caused to Slemmer’s family and said she now finds it difficult to understand how she was capable of committing the crime.
If the execution proceeds, Pike will become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1819, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Female executions remain uncommon in the United States, with 18 women executed nationwide since 1976. Pike’s lawyers are continuing their efforts to obtain a stay from the Supreme Court ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled execution.
