Tennessee is moving to execute a woman for the first time in more than two centuries, though the 50-year-old death row inmate convicted of torturing and killing a romantic rival at 18 argues she's changed. Christa Gail Pike is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 30 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, a killing she later boasted about, even allegedly showing off a fragment of Slemmer's skull. Prosecutors said Pike, believing Slemmer was pursuing her boyfriend, lured her into the woods and led an hourlong attack that included carving a pentagram into Slemmer's chest and striking her in the head with a piece of asphalt, per USA Today.
A police officer later testified Pike "was giggling" when she returned to the crime scene. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996. Her then-boyfriend, 17, was convicted of first-degree murder and received life in prison, and a third participant received probation after testifying against the pair, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Pike was later convicted of the 2004 attempted murder of an inmate, per the Nashville Banner. In a 2023 letter, she wrote that she had "changed drastically" in prison. In January, her lawyers sued Tennessee officials, arguing a lethal injection of pentobarbital risks causing Pike extreme pain due to a blood disorder, thrombocytosis, and violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
They point to reports of "botched" executions using pentobarbital, including one in Tennessee in 1988 when dying inmate Byron Black told a witness, "It's hurting so bad." They also argue Pike can't opt for electrocution—the only alternative execution method under state law—because her Buddhist beliefs forbid taking part in any act that would lead to her own death. The state counters that the Eighth Amendment does not guarantee a pain-free execution and says Pike has provided only speculation about added risk, noting courts have repeatedly upheld lethal injection and pentobarbital.
Though Pike's lawyers argue she would not be sentenced the same way today, given her age, mental illness, and history of childhood sexual abuse at the time of the crime, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti emphasized the brutality of Slemmer's murder, saying Pike carried a skull fragment as a "trophy," per USA Today. Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has long supported the death sentence, telling a TV station in 2021 that she wants the execution carried out in her lifetime. If the execution proceeds, Pike would be only the 19th woman executed in the US since 1976, out of more than 1,600 executions overall.
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