Tennessee Set to Execute Christa Pike in First Female Execution in 200 Years

Tennessee is preparing to carry out the execution of Christa Pike on Wednesday via lethal injection. If the sentence is completed as scheduled, Pike will become the first woman put to death in the state in over two centuries and the only individual sentenced to death in the United States during its modern capital punishment era whose crime was committed at age 18, 19, or 20.

Pike, the sole woman on Tennessee’s death row, submitted a clemency petition that was denied by Governor Bill Lee on Monday. In a letter written to her spiritual adviser, Rev. Mikey Noechel, prior to the denial, Pike stated, “I am not afraid to die. I’m only nervous about the process.” She added that she felt “at peace” with the outcome and thanked supporters who urged the governor to intervene.

Noechel also provided CBS News with a handwritten excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “To ——,” which Pike shared with him on Sunday. The 50-year-old has been incarcerated since 1995 for the murder of her former classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

The Crime and Conviction

According to court records, Pike was 18 years old when she tortured and killed 19-year-old Slemmer in a wooded area on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville. Prosecutors and jurors described the killing as brutal; Slemmer was beaten and cut with a meat cleaver and box cutter for up to an hour. Pentagrams were carved into her forehead and chest, and a section of her skull was removed, allegedly kept by Pike as a souvenir.

Pike’s boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and friend, Shadolla Peterson, assisted in the attack. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence, while Peterson received probation after testifying against Pike. May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, previously told the Knoxville News-Sentinel that she believed Pike was “evil” and should be executed immediately.

Legal Challenges and International Outcry

The case has attracted significant attention from human rights advocates and international bodies. United Nations experts, alongside domestic advocacy groups such as Mercy for Christa, urged Governor Lee to commute Pike’s sentence. Their arguments highlighted Pike’s history of childhood sexual abuse, neglect, and untreated mental illnesses, including PTSD, bipolar disorder, and congenital brain damage—factors that significantly influence modern sentencing juries.

Pike’s attorneys argued that these mitigating circumstances were not adequately presented during her original trial. They also noted that had Pike been just months younger, she would have been ineligible for the death penalty in Tennessee.

U.S. Circuit Judge Jane Stranch acknowledged the controversy surrounding the sentence in a 2018 concurring opinion on an unsuccessful appeal, noting that the ruling presumed Pike was “incapable of reform” despite evidence that other teenage offenders have been rehabilitated.

Conditions of Confinement

A significant portion of Pike’s imprisonment has been marked by isolation. For all but three of her 31 years on death row, she was the only woman in the facility, leading her legal team to file lawsuits describing her confinement as akin to solitary confinement. These efforts resulted in a 2024 settlement that granted her more interaction with other inmates.

However, prior to the execution, Pike was returned to solitary confinement, as required by Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol 14 days before the procedure. The U.S. Supreme Court denied her final appeal on Tuesday.

Pike’s Reflections

In her clemency petition, Pike expressed remorse for her actions, stating, “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.” Her attorneys released a statement affirming that the “18-year-old girl suffering from severe mental illness and near-debilitating trauma no longer exists,” describing her as a “remorseful woman who understands her actions.”

Luke Ihnen, one of Pike’s attorneys, told CBS News that his client spent her final days concerned for her friends, family, and legal team rather than herself.