Tennessee Supreme Court Declines to Stay Execution of Christa Pike
- On September 30, 2026, Christa Pike is scheduled for lethal injection in Tennessee; if the execution proceeds, she will become the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years.
- Convicted for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, Pike was 18 when she, Tadaryl Shipp, and Shadolla Peterson lured the student into the woods; Shipp received life in prison, and Peterson received probation.
- Defense attorneys argue the jury convicted Pike without knowing she suffered childhood abuse and brain damage; a clinical psychologist concluded she "experienced more severe adverse events than 99% of the U.S. population."
- The Tennessee Supreme Court declined to stop the execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution this week; her legal team plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over lethal injection protocol concerns.
- Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, plans to attend the execution, stating "It's never about the victims," and media coverage has distracted from her daughter's memory; Pike has expressed remorse in letters since 2023.
22 Articles
22 Articles
She was sentenced to death in 1996 for the brutal murder of a 19-year-old girl. The mother of the murdered girl supports the execution, and her lawyers have filed a petition for clemency.
Tennessee to Execute First Female Death Row Inmate in More Than 200 Years
Tennessee is set to execute Krista Pike, a 50-year-old woman convicted of a brutal 1995 murder, making her the first woman executed in the U.S. state in more than 200 years if the sentence is carried out as scheduled on Wednesday. Pike was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville […]
Tennessee’s Only Female Death Row Inmate Fights Execution In Final Days: ‘My Brain Eats Itself’
Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has formally asked Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life in prison without parole ahead of her scheduled execution on Wednesday, Sept. 30. If the execution is carried out at 10 a.m. inside the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Pike, now 50, […] Tennessee’s Only Female Death Row Inmate Fights Execution In Final Days: ‘My Brain Eats Itself’
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