Woman scheduled for execution Wednesday

Christa Pike, now fifty, was eighteen when she killed classmate Colleen Slemmer in nineteen ninety-five. She is scheduled to be executed Wednesday in Tennessee's first execution of a woman in two hundred years.

The nineteen ninety-five killing

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of killing nineteen-year-old Colleen Slemmer at Knoxville Job Corps. Prosecutors said Pike feared Slemmer was a romantic rival, lured her to a secluded area, and she and her boyfriend tortured and killed her.

The crime shocked the nation

The case got widespread attention because of the brutality of the killing, the ages of those involved, and because a satanic symbol was carved into the victim's body. Prosecutors said Pike cut Slemmer with a box cutter and beat her with asphalt.

Pike's traumatic childhood

Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike was sexually abused starting as a toddler and raped at ages eleven and seventeen. She was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Pike's defense at trial

Pike's attorneys argue her trial lawyers did not present critical information about her past or argue that her age should be a consideration. Pike told police she initially only wanted to fight Slemmer but ended up killing her in a frenzied attack.

Pike's statement on her crime

In her clemency petition, Pike said: I was a mentally ill eighteen-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I'd done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected.

“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I'd done.”

Slemmer's mother wants execution

Colleen Slemmer's mother May Martinez said her daughter never got a chance to grow up. She volunteered with Special Olympics, loved roller skating, and wanted a career in computers. Martinez said she thinks about Colleen every day.

“Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by that I do not think about Colleen.”

Governor denies clemency

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Monday he would not grant clemency. Pike's attorneys have asked the Supreme Court to stay the execution. Female executions are rare in the U.S., with only eighteen women executed since nineteen seventy-six.

Experts question the sentence

Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said: If Christa Pike was tried today, I do not believe a jury that knew about the documented sexual abuse and neglect she experienced as a child would sentence her to death.

“If Christa Pike was tried today, I do not believe a jury...would sentence her to death.”

Pike's boyfriend received life sentence

Pike's boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, who was seventeen at the time, was sentenced to life with possibility of parole because of his age. He was denied parole last year. A third teen admitted to being an accessory and received probation.