The US Supreme Court has declined to stop the execution of Christa Pike, clearing the path for her scheduled lethal injection on Wednesday morning according to BBC reports. Pike, 50, has been on death row since her 1996 conviction for the murder of a teenage classmate. Following the high court’s decision to deny the last-minute petition filed by her attorneys, she will become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries, according to The Times of India.
Supreme Court Denies Final Stay in Tennessee Execution Case
Ahead of the high court’s decision, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied a request for clemency, stating he would not intervene in the planned execution as reported by the BBC. Pike’s defense team had petitioned both the state and federal levels for relief, citing her struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, and severe childhood trauma involving abuse and neglect according to the New York Post. Attorneys also argued that being strapped to a gurney could trigger severe psychological terror given her history, though state corrections officials agreed to certain accommodations such as utilizing female staff for transport and observation as noted by News 3 LV.
1995 Knoxville Killing and Historic Context
Pike was 18 years old when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer on Jan. 12, 1995. The two teenagers, alongside Slemmer, were students at a job training camp for troubled teens in Knoxville according to The Times of India. Prosecutors stated that Pike attacked Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with a large piece of asphalt in a jealous rage, while Shipp carved a Satanic pentagram into the victim’s body according to the New York Post. The brutality of the crime and the occult symbol stoked widespread fears during the “satanic panic” of the era according to The Times of India.
Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was ineligible for the death penalty due to his age and received a sentence of life with the possibility of parole, which was denied last year according to the New York Post. A third teenager involved in the case admitted to being an accessory and received probation according to News 3 LV. Pike was additionally convicted of attempted first-degree murder for a 2001 attack on another inmate according to News 3 LV.
Victim’s Family Response and Rare Execution Statistics
May Martinez, the mother of Colleen Slemmer, has consistently stated that she wants the execution to move forward, telling reporters that she has waited decades to see the sentence carried out according to The Times of India and the New York Post. Martinez noted that holidays remain painful and that her daughter would have turned 51 last week according to the New York Post.
According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center cited by the BBC, female executions remain exceedingly rare nationwide, with only 18 women put to death in the United States since the 1970s compared to 1,663 men. In Tennessee, the execution marks the first time a woman will be put to death since the early 19th century according to The Times of India and News 3 LV. Prior to the Supreme Court’s denial, Pike wrote in a letter to NBC News that she felt at peace with her impending fate, stating Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace
according to the New York Post.