Christa Pike Faces Tennessee Execution as Attorneys Make Final Requests Over How Her Death Sentence Will Be Carried Out

Tennessee’s Only Female Death-Row Prisoner Is Scheduled for Lethal Injection on September 30 as Her Lawyers Seek Clemency and Request Changes to the Execution Procedure

More than three decades after 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer was murdered in Tennessee, Christa Pike is scheduled to be executed for the crime.

Pike, now 50, is Tennessee’s only female death-row prisoner.

She is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10 a.m. on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

If the execution proceeds, Pike would become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Her attorneys are continuing efforts to stop the execution, asking Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s death sentence to life imprisonment without parole.

They have also made unusual requests concerning the manner in which Pike’s final hours would be handled.

Meanwhile, Slemmer’s parents have expressed support for carrying out the sentence imposed decades ago.

Colleen Slemmer’s Mother Remembers the Murder Trial

For Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, memories of her daughter’s murder extend beyond the crime itself.

During Pike’s trial, prosecutors displayed Slemmer’s damaged skull as evidence.

Martinez watched as her daughter’s remains were handled inside the courtroom.

“That was the hardest thing in the world – to watch your daughter’s skull be passed around,” Martinez said.

More than a decade would pass before a court ordered the skull returned to Slemmer’s family.

For Martinez, however, the passage of time did not erase what happened to her daughter or the effect it had on her life.

“I’m not the same person I used to be,” she said.

The Murder Happened in January 1995

The crime occurred on January 12, 1995.

Pike was 18 at the time and was attending the Knoxville Job Corps alongside Slemmer.

Pike had become convinced that Slemmer was interested in her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.

Slemmer was subsequently lured to a secluded location near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus in Knoxville.

There, the 19-year-old was subjected to a prolonged attack.

She was beaten and cut before she was killed.

Shipp carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s chest.

Pike took a piece of Slemmer’s skull from the scene and later showed it to other students.

The details of the killing would become central to the case that eventually placed Pike on Tennessee’s death row.

Three Teenagers Faced Very Different Consequences

Pike and Shipp were not the only people present.

Another teenager, Shadolla Peterson, was also there.

But the three ultimately faced significantly different legal consequences.

Shipp was 17 when Slemmer was killed.

Because he was not eligible for the death penalty, he received a life sentence.

Peterson testified against Pike and Shipp and received probation.

Pike was convicted of first-degree murder.

In 1996, she was sentenced to death.

At the time, she became the youngest woman sent to Tennessee’s death row.

More than 31 years after Slemmer’s death, Pike is now approaching the scheduled date for that sentence to be carried out.

Pike Says She Thinks About the Execution Every Day

With September 30 approaching, Pike has spoken about how the prospect of execution affects her.

“I run through this execution every day in my heart,” Pike said in an audio recording.

She then described what she believes the end of the process will mean for her.

“Whatever happens on Sept. 30, this will not be my hell anymore.”

Pike has also questioned the purpose of executing her after she has spent more than three decades incarcerated.

“I don’t think that someone should kill me to teach me that killing someone is wrong,” she said. “I’m not going to be the one here left to suffer anymore after they do this.”

Her attorneys are continuing to argue that her death sentence should be commuted to life without parole.

Her Attorneys Point to Pike’s Childhood and Mental Health

Part of Pike’s clemency argument focuses on experiences her attorneys say occurred long before Slemmer’s murder.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike experienced sexual abuse beginning when she was approximately 5 years old.

When she was 11, she was raped by a neighbor.

The neighbor did not receive prison time and later returned to live nearby.

Pike experienced another rape when she was 17, approximately a year before Slemmer was killed.

She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Her attorneys argue that her mental health was not adequately considered when she was sentenced.

They have presented those circumstances as part of their request for clemency.

“Christa was broken, not evil.”

Pike’s legal team argues that multiple systems failed her during her youth and afterward.

“She was broken by a mental health system, juvenile system, and a criminal justice system that ignored, misdiagnosed, and mistreated her at every turn,” her attorneys wrote in the petition.

They summarized their argument with another statement.

“Christa was broken, not evil.”

Those arguments are being presented as reasons for Gov. Bill Lee to commute Pike’s sentence rather than allow the execution to proceed.

They do not change Pike’s conviction for Slemmer’s murder.

Instead, her legal team is asking that her background and mental health history be considered in determining whether the death penalty should still be carried out.

Pike Has Asked to Be Hanged Instead

Another dispute involves the method of execution.

Pike has requested hanging rather than Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedure.

Her attorneys argue that aspects of the lethal-injection process could cause Pike to relive trauma associated with the sexual violence she experienced earlier in her life.

But hanging is not currently an available execution method in Tennessee.

The state does not have the protocol, equipment or training necessary to conduct an execution by hanging.

That creates a major obstacle to the request.

Her attorneys have consequently also sought changes to how a lethal injection would be conducted if the scheduled execution proceeds.

Her Lawyers Want Only Women Involved in the Procedure

Pike’s attorneys have requested that only women participate in carrying out her lethal injection.

The request focuses particularly on the physical restraint and handling involved in preparing a prisoner for execution.

Her legal team argues that being physically restrained and handled by male corrections officers could retraumatize Pike because of her history of sexual violence.

Tennessee has agreed to some accommodations.

Plans call for Pike to remain at the women’s Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center until approximately 24 hours before the execution.

The state has also arranged an all-female transport staff.

However, Tennessee has not guaranteed that every person involved in the execution chamber will be a woman.

Slemmer’s Mother Opposes Special Treatment for Pike

May Martinez has taken a very different position from Pike’s attorneys.

She does not believe Pike should receive special accommodations.

“I don’t think she should be allowed to have any special treatment,” Martinez said.

She also rejected Pike’s arguments by focusing on what happened to her daughter.

“She didn’t consider how my daughter felt – she’s just playing the system.”

Martinez added, “It’s all bullcrap.”

Her position on whether Pike has changed during decades of incarceration is similarly firm.

“Nobody could ever, ever convince me she’s changed.”

Colleen Slemmer’s Parents Plan to Witness the Execution

Martinez and her husband, Raul, have said they intend to be present if Pike’s execution proceeds.

After waiting more than three decades, they want to witness the sentence being carried out.

“We will be there the morning of the 30th of September to ensure that her punishment is carried out,” Raul said.

For Slemmer’s parents, the approaching date represents the culmination of a case that has remained part of their lives since their daughter was killed in 1995.

For Pike and her attorneys, it represents the rapidly narrowing window in which the death sentence might still be commuted or the execution procedure changed.

The Case Has Reached Its Final Stage

Pike’s case now brings together two sharply different perspectives surrounding a murder committed more than three decades ago.

Her attorneys emphasize her childhood abuse, later mental health diagnoses and the circumstances they believe were not adequately considered when she received a death sentence.

They are asking for life imprisonment without parole instead.

Slemmer’s parents remain focused on their daughter and the brutality of the crime that took her life at 19.

They support carrying out the sentence imposed on Pike in 1996.

The requests involving hanging, an all-female execution team and other accommodations have added another layer to the final legal and procedural disputes.

But unless the sentence is halted or changed, Pike is scheduled for lethal injection at 10 a.m. on September 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

More than 31 years after Colleen Slemmer was killed, the case is approaching one of its most consequential moments.