Tennessee Prepares for First Female Execution in Two Centuries

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Christa Pike, now 50, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. The case has drawn national attention as it would represent the first time Tennessee has carried out the death penalty on a woman in 200 years.

Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted in the brutal killing of Slemmer at a Knoxville Job Corps center. Prosecutors alleged that Pike, then 18, acted out of jealousy, believing Slemmer to be a romantic rival. She and Shipp lured the 19-year-old victim to a secluded location where she was tortured and killed. The crime sparked widespread outrage due to its violence, the youth of those involved, and the carving of a satanic symbol into the victim’s body.

While Pike has not denied her involvement, her legal team argues that the death sentence is inappropriate given the circumstances. In a clemency petition submitted to Governor Bill Lee, attorneys highlighted Pike’s history of severe childhood neglect and repeated sexual abuse, which began in toddlerhood and included rapes at ages 11 and 17. They also pointed to her diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, arguing that her untreated mental illness and adolescent brain development impaired her ability to control her actions.

“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid,” Pike wrote in the petition. “It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done… It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime.”

Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell noted that Pike’s original sentencing did not fully present this traumatic background to the jury. He emphasized that her sentence is an outlier, pointing out that Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received life with the possibility of parole. A third teenager involved as an accessory received probation. Ferrell also noted that other 18-year-olds sentenced to death in Tennessee in recent decades have subsequently had their sentences reduced.

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, stated that if Pike were tried today, a jury aware of her documented abuse would likely not impose the death penalty. The center reported that while 275 people have been executed nationwide for crimes committed between ages 18 and 20 since the modern death penalty era began, such sentences have become increasingly rare.

On the other side, May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, has insisted that the execution proceed. Speaking from Florida, Martinez expressed that her daughter never had the chance to grow up and described the lasting pain of the loss. She recalled Slemmer as an easygoing individual who loved roller skating and had ambitions in computer science.

“Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by that I do not think about Colleen,” Martinez said. “Holidays are the worst. Colleen’s birthday was last week. She would have been 51.”

Following the denial of clemency by Governor Lee, Pike’s attorneys have requested a stay of execution from the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, protesters gathered at the Tennessee State Capitol ahead of the scheduled lethal injection, continuing demonstrations against the death penalty.

If carried out, the execution will be historically significant. Since 1976, only 18 women have been executed in the United States, accounting for roughly 1% of all executions. The most recent prior female execution in Tennessee occurred in 1820.