As Christa Pike’s scheduled execution date in Tennessee approaches, her defense team and human rights experts are asking officials to commute her death sentence.
Pike became the sole woman on Tennessee’s death row after she received capital punishment for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. If her execution goes forward later this month, she will be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
She’s set to be executed at the age of 50 on September 30, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Here’s what to know and why experts are asking officials to prevent Pike’s execution.
What did Christa Pike Do?
In 1995, Pike, then 18, was accused of violently killing Slemmer when they were both students at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville, per court filings previously viewed by Us.
Pike’s boyfriend at the time and another teen were also allegedly involved in the murder, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Prosecutors stated that Pike viewed Slemmer as a “romantic rival” when it came to Pike’s relationship with her then boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, USA Today reported.
On January 12, 1995, Slemmer was led into the woods by Pike, Shipp and their friend before Pike allegedly attacked her, according to the outlet.
Court records state that Pike cut Slemmer’s throat, beat her and tossed pieces of asphalt at her. Pike also allegedly told a friend that she used a meat cleaver to slash Slemmer’s back.
Shipp was accused of carving a pentagram in Slemmer’s chest, according to The Guardian.
He avoided a death sentence because he was 17 when Slemmer was killed, the outlet reported. He was sentenced to life in prison and was recently denied parole in October 2025.
How Long Has Pike Been on Death Row?
Pike was handed her death sentence on March 30, 1996, when she became the youngest female to receive the penalty in modern times, according to Cornell Law School.
She’s expected to die by lethal injection.
Pike has spent 30 years on death row, with most of her imprisonment, about 28 years, in solitary confinement, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office.
Why Do Experts Want to Stop Pike’s Execution?
On September 7, 2026, UN experts called on federal and state authorities to “immediately halt” Pike’s execution, noting she experienced significant hardship in her youth, including sexual abuse, mental health conditions and “neurological impairments.”
“Pike’s execution would mark the culmination of a trajectory of severe physical and psychological suffering marked by childhood abuse and nearly three decades of solitary confinement on death row,” the experts said in a news release issued by the UN Human Rights Office.
This comes after Pike’s defense attorneys filed a 226-page clemency petition with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on September 2, asking for mercy on Pike’s behalf, according to The Guardian.
Instead of death, they are asking if she can serve a life sentence without parole, WVLT-TV reported. As governor, Lee has the power to grant or deny clemency.
Pike’s attorneys detail abuse she endured in her childhood, trauma she’s faced and mental health struggles in the petition, per the TV station.
“The governor now has an opportunity to protect a victim of child rape and correct the mistakes of the adults, institutions and systems that consistently failed Christa as a child,” Pike’s attorney, Kelly Gleason, said in a statement, according to the TV station.
