The United States Supreme Court has removed a last-minute legal barrier, permitting the state of Tennessee to execute Christa Pike. The decision effectively nullifies a stay previously issued by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, paving the way for the nation’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
Pike, now 50, was originally scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday morning for a murder she committed when she was 18. Witnesses and media personnel had already assembled at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville prior to the appellate court’s intervention.
The Sixth Circuit had paused the execution to evaluate whether Pike’s allegations of severe childhood sexual abuse were adequately considered during her sentencing phase. However, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority vacated that stay without providing a written explanation. The three liberal justices issued a dissent, arguing that the high court’s action interfered with the lower court’s ability to properly review Pike’s claims.
Following the Supreme Court’s order, Tennessee’s attorney general promptly appealed the stay. A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed that the state would proceed with the execution on Wednesday night, adhering to a midnight deadline set in the execution warrant.
Pike and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted in connection with the 1995 fatal stabbing and beating of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate at a Knoxville job training facility. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. Pike was the only defendant sentenced to death.
Tennessee’s attorney general argued in its appeal that the delayed stay caused significant trauma to Slemmer’s family and rewarded what it characterized as abusive legal tactics. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent, contended that the majority’s move unnecessarily prevented the Sixth Circuit from giving due consideration to Pike’s claims regarding her background.
Pike has not disputed that she participated in the killing, but her legal team and supporters maintain that her youth, mental health issues, and history as a survivor of sexual abuse—including rape beginning in toddlerhood—were not fully weighed by the jury. Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In a clemency petition, she described the attack as a frenzied loss of control, stating, “I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done.”
Conversely, May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, expressed support for carrying out the execution. Speaking to the Associated Press, she said she had waited decades for justice, recalling her daughter’s suffering.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Tennessee has not executed a woman in roughly two centuries, though historical records are incomplete. Since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, 18 women have been executed in the United States, accounting for approximately 1 percent of all executions.
I find it ironic that the 17-year-old male defendant got life while the 18-year-old female received the death penalty. The sentencing disparity is hard to ignore.
My thoughts are with Colleen Slemmer’s family. They have waited decades for this moment, and I respect their need for closure.
Why did the Supreme Court intervene without explanation? The lack of transparency here is troubling for anyone who values due process.
Justice Sotomayor’s dissent raises valid points. Ignoring severe childhood abuse claims in sentencing feels fundamentally unjust to me.
It’s remarkable that we are seeing a female execution in 2025, nearly two centuries after the last one. This sets a concerning precedent.