Tennessee's only female death row inmate has filed a legal challenge requesting hanging over lethal injection ahead of her September 30 execution, a case that would make her the first woman the state has put to death in more than two centuries.
Christa Pike, 50, is scheduled to die by lethal injection in Nashville before 10 a.m. on September 30 unless Governor Bill Lee intervenes. Her lawyers have filed a 226-page clemency petition and a separate court challenge arguing that a lethal injection administered by male executioners would violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Pike has also requested an all-female execution squad.
Stephen Ferrell, Pike's attorney, told the New York Post that male-administered lethal injection "will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur," adding, "There is an increased risk of pain and suffering." The state's legal team rejected the argument, saying Pike "has completely failed" to produce scientific evidence supporting her claim.
If the execution proceeds, Pike would be the first woman put to death in Tennessee since 1819, and, as Breitbart reported, the first person executed for a crime committed at age 18 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1972.
The crime that put Pike on death row was the January 12, 1995, murder of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. Both women were teenagers. Pike was 18. Her boyfriend and co-offender, Tadaryl Shipp, was 17, young enough to be barred from execution under Tennessee law.
Tennessee Supreme Court documents lay out the sequence in detail. The day before the killing, Pike told a friend at the center, Kim Iloilo, that she planned to kill Slemmer because she "had just felt mean that day." Pike also claimed Slemmer "had been trying to get her boyfriend" and was "running her mouth" around the facility.
On the evening of January 12, Iloilo watched Pike, Slemmer, Shipp, and another student named Shadolla Peterson walk away from the Job Corps Center toward 17th Street at about 8 p.m. Pike had lured Slemmer out by lying about a trip to a Blockbuster video store and claiming she had hidden a bag of marijuana in a nearby park.
At roughly 10:15 p.m., Iloilo saw Pike, Shipp, and Peterson return. Slemmer was not with them.
Later that night, Pike went to Iloilo's room and told her she had killed Slemmer. Court documents record what Pike said next: she had cut Slemmer's throat six times, beaten her, and thrown chunks of asphalt at her head. A meat cleaver had been used on Slemmer's back. A box cutter had been used on her throat. A pentagram had been carved into Slemmer's forehead and chest. Pike showed Iloilo a piece of the victim's skull she had brought back as a souvenir.
Iloilo told court officials that Pike was dancing in a circle, smiling, and singing "la, la, la" while describing the killing.
The next morning at breakfast, Iloilo asked what Pike had done with the skull fragment. Pike replied that it was in her pocket. "And, yes, I'm eating breakfast with it," she said.
A University of Tennessee employee found Slemmer's body on January 13. He testified that he had first mistaken it for the corpse of an animal. The case remains one of the most disturbing murders in Tennessee's modern criminal history, a state that has also seen prolonged incarceration cases like that of Francis Clifford Smith, who spent decades on death row before dying at 101.
After her arrest, Pike waived her right to remain silent and gave authorities a complete statement. She admitted to using a box cutter and meat cleaver on Slemmer. She described slamming Slemmer's head against concrete while Slemmer repeatedly asked, "Why are you doing this to me?"
Pike told police that as Slemmer "screamed and screamed," she began hearing voices telling her she had to do something to prevent Slemmer from reporting the attack and sending her to prison for attempted murder. The courts convicted her in 1996.
Pike's 226-page clemency petition, addressed to Governor Lee, argues that her death sentence should be reduced to life in prison without parole. The petition cites three main grounds: a history of sexual abuse beginning at approximately age two, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder that went untreated at the time of the crime, and 30 years spent in solitary confinement since her conviction.
The petition opens with an emotional appeal. Pike's lawyers describe a childhood photograph:
"There is a picture of Christa as a child that I often think about. She is outside; her curly red hair is slightly blown by the wind. She has big brown eyes, and her mouth is drawn tight in a straight line. I think about this picture for two reasons. First, it is a beautiful picture, not unlike the pictures I have of my own daughter at the same age. I am sure you have similar pictures of your daughters."
The petition continues:
"Second, I think of this picture because I know that it was taken about the time Christa was first sexually abused. Her grandmother's boyfriend had already begun orally raping her. To me, this picture represents a devastatingly sad turning point, where the chaos that surrounded Christa began to leave marks on her that were too much to overcome."
One unnamed expert cited in the petition described Pike's upbringing as "almost unbearably abusive." The petition also references unspecified scientific and research developments in the years since Pike's conviction, though the state's legal team dismissed those arguments as insufficient.
Pike's attorneys have made similar arguments publicly. AP News reported that her legal team stated Pike "has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime" after receiving treatment for bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders that were not diagnosed until years after the murder.
The case has also drawn scrutiny toward Tennessee's lethal injection protocols. Federal public defender Kelley Henry, representing other death row inmates, pointed to the 2024 execution of Byron Black, who reportedly said he was "hurting so bad" during the procedure. An autopsy revealed pulmonary edema. Henry vowed to "fight to bring the truth of what happened to light before these executions move forward."
Death penalty cases continue to generate intense debate both domestically and abroad. Iran recently sentenced a 33-year-old blogger to death for criticizing the supreme leader, a reminder that capital punishment carries vastly different contexts depending on the country and the crime.
In a documentary titled Christa Pike's Last Fight to Stop Her Execution, Pike spoke about the psychological toll of awaiting her death date. She said she had been told a year in advance, and every day since had been consumed by the knowledge.
"I know I said I believed a date would never be set, but now that one has been set, it's like a roulette wheel of thought and your actual brain is the ball bouncing around. My nerves are shredded. When I do sleep, my brain eats itself."
Pike added that she suffers from recurring nightmares:
"I have the most horrible nightmares, but I think what has been worse is that they told me a year ahead of time. And so, every day I've woken up and lived that thought all day, every day, every waking moment."
Her lawyers have also claimed Pike suffers from PTSD and a rare blood disorder, though the petition does not name the specific condition or the physician who diagnosed it. Pike's ultimate legal goal, her attorneys say, is resentencing to life without parole.
Fox News reported that Pike would be only the fourth woman executed in Tennessee's entire history. Her defense attorneys told the outlet that "Christa's childhood was fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect."
Governor Bill Lee has the authority to halt the execution before the 10 a.m. deadline on September 30. As of the most recent reporting, he has made no public statement on the clemency petition or the case. The state's legal team has signaled it intends to proceed.
If the execution goes forward, Pike's final day will follow a grim schedule: a 5:30 a.m. wake-up, cell cleaning, a shower, a change of clothes, a last meal, and final visits with family or a spiritual adviser. She will then be strapped to a gurney and administered a single dose of pentobarbital under Tennessee's updated lethal injection protocol.
Tragic cases involving young victims, like the recent recovery of a 10-year-old girl's body from New Jersey's Passaic River, remind the public why the justice system exists in the first place: to hold accountable those who destroy innocent life.
Colleen Slemmer begged her attackers to stop. They didn't. Thirty years of legal filings, a 226-page clemency petition, and a request to choose the method of death have produced plenty of sympathy for the killer, but precious little for the 19-year-old girl who never came back from that park.
