Christa Pike Scheduled for Execution in Tennessee, the First Woman in Over 200 Years
Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 10:00 AM local time on Wednesday, September 30, at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. If carried out, she becomes the first woman executed by the state of Tennessee in more than two centuries.
Background of the Case
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in 1996 after being convicted of the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps Center.
According to prosecutors, Pike viewed Slemmer as a romantic rival over fellow student Tadaryl Shipp, then 17. Pike, Shipp, and another student, Shadolla Peterson, led Slemmer to an isolated area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus, where she was killed in January 1995.
Pike is currently the only woman on Tennessee’s death row.
Final Appeals Denied
In the days before the scheduled execution, Pike’s remaining legal options were exhausted:
- The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected her final legal challenge.
- Governor Bill Lee said he would not grant clemency.
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the execution on Tuesday.
Pike had challenged both her conviction and the method of execution. Earlier this week, she said she was “at peace” regardless of whether clemency was granted.
How the Execution Is Conducted
Tennessee law sets strict rules for who may attend an execution. Witnesses are limited to prison staff, judicial representatives, family members, and a small number of journalists.
The prison warden or an associate warden oversees the procedure to ensure state protocols are followed. A physician remains present to monitor vital signs and formally pronounce the time of death. The drug used in Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol is pentobarbital.
State officials, including representatives of the attorney general’s office and the sheriff of the county where the crime occurred, are also authorized to be present.
Who Is Permitted to Witness
Both the victim’s family and individuals chosen by Pike may observe from a viewing room.
Colleen Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, and stepfather, Raul Martinez, planned to attend. In a Facebook post, Raul Martinez wrote: “We will be there the morning of the 30th of September to ensure that her punishment is carried out.”
May Martinez has spoken publicly about the decades her family has waited for the sentence to be carried out. Remembering her daughter, she said: “She trusted everybody, and that was her downfall.”
Pike was also permitted to have her defense attorney and a spiritual advisor present. According to her records, she requested that her spiritual advisor help her practice meditation during her final moments.
A Case Three Decades in the Making
The execution comes more than 30 years after Colleen Slemmer’s death, closing one of Tennessee’s longest-running capital cases. For Slemmer’s family, it marks the end of a legal process that has spanned most of their lives since 1995.