Tennessee Prepares for Execution of Christa Gale Pike

Tennessee is set to execute a woman for the first time in over 200 years, following the state’s Supreme Court’s decision to schedule Christa Gale Pike’s execution. Pike is currently the only woman on death row in Tennessee.

On September 30, the state filed a request to officially set an execution date for Pike, who is now 49 years old. The planned execution date is September 30, 2026.

This makes Pike the first woman to be executed in Tennessee since 1820, and only the fourth woman ever to face execution in the state’s history.

Based on records from the Death Penalty Information Center, the last woman executed was Martin Eve, who was hanged in 1820 as an accessory to murder.

Pike was convicted for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville back in 1995. At the time, Pike was just 18 years old.

According to court documents, Pike lured Slemmer into a forest along with other acquaintances and committed the heinous act. She cut Slemmer’s throat with a box cutter, stabbed her, carved a star into her chest, and ultimately crushed her skull with asphalt. Afterward, Pike reportedly kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a trophy, even showing it to fellow classmates.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996. Her co-defendant received a life sentence with the possibility of parole, while another accomplice testified against Pike and was placed on probation.

Pike’s history of violence continued in prison, leading to a 2004 conviction for attempting to strangle another inmate. Her case has spent nearly three decades in the appeals process.

The defense argues that Pike should be exempt from the death penalty due to her age at the time of the crime, a history of abuse, and a later diagnosis of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. According to her lawyer, “Christa’s childhood was filled with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect,” emphasizing that treatment has since helped her cultivate remorse for her actions.

As for the state’s death penalty practices, Tennessee has only recently resumed executions after a three-year moratorium to review lethal injection protocols, and plans to carry out executions in 2025.