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Tennessee Is Set to Execute a Woman for the First Time in 200 Years

Lee said he will not intervene, leaving Pike set for execution after 30 years on death row and renewed appeals from her lawyers.

  • On Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied clemency for Christa Gail Pike, upholding her death sentence. Pike remains scheduled for execution by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution on Wednesday, September 30.
  • Pike was convicted for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike, then 18, and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer, carving a pentagram into the victim's chest.
  • Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell argued Pike's death sentence is an outlier, citing her childhood sexual abuse and neglect. Unlike co-defendant Tadaryl Shipp, who received life in prison, Pike was the only one sentenced to death.
  • While advocates with Death Penalty Action delivered thousands of petitions to the State Capitol on Monday seeking a stay, victim's mother May Martinez said she wants the execution to go forward.
  • If the execution proceeds, Pike will become the first woman put to death in Tennessee in 200 years. Executions of female inmates are rare nationwide, representing about 1% of all executions since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
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Pike's lawyers, who murdered a young woman in 1995, claim that she should receive clemency and that if she were tried today she would not be sentenced to death.

·Los Angeles, United States
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Il Blog di David Puente broke the news on Monday, September 28, 2026.
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