Tennessee is poised to carry out its first female execution in more than two centuries on Wednesday, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of a final stay. Christa Pike, 50, who was convicted at age 18 of torturing and murdering a classmate, is scheduled for lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. However, according to The New York Post, she has formally requested to be executed by an all-female firing squad instead.
Pike was convicted in 1996 for her role in the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, 19. Along with her then-17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, Pike lured Slemmer, a romantic rival, into a wooded area in Knoxville. The attackers tortured Slemmer, carving a pentagram into her chest, and Pike retained a fragment of her skull. Shipp received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, while Pike was sentenced to death.
Pike’s legal team argues that lethal injection would force her to relive severe childhood abuse, including sexual assaults she suffered at ages 11 and 17. Her clemency petition cites diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as cognitive impairments linked to her mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Experts warn that the physical procedures of lethal injection could trigger intense flashbacks.
Additionally, attorneys have claimed Pike has small veins and a blood condition that could complicate IV placement, a concern Tennessee disputes. In May, prison officials aborted the execution of inmate Tony Carruthers after failing to locate a suitable vein.
Pike’s desire for a firing squad has faced legal hurdles. Tennessee does not currently authorize capital punishment by shooting, and her lawyers’ alternative proposal for hanging was rejected by the state, which argued it lacks the necessary equipment and legal authority. An August court ruling sided with the state but permitted the possibility of an all-female execution team. Pike’s crime occurred in 1995, making her eligible under Tennessee law to choose the electric chair, another method available for offenses committed before January 1999.
Governor Bill Lee has denied clemency, despite calls from United Nations human rights experts for her sentence to be commuted. Pike’s mother, May Martinez, has publicly supported the execution.
If carried out, this will be the first execution of a woman in Tennessee since 1820. Nationally, women represent just over one percent of the 1,683 individuals executed since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Tennessee has executed 17 people in the modern era, with Pike being the only woman on its death row.
The case highlights ongoing controversies surrounding execution methods. While lethal injection is the primary method in all 27 states with the death penalty, experts argue that none are guaranteed to be painless. Recent challenges have focused on the risks of botched injections, the reliability of the electric chair, and the constitutionality of nitrogen gas, which a federal judge recently barred in Alabama as cruel and unusual punishment.
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