Tennessee Prepares First Execution of a Woman Since 1820
Tennessee prepares to execute Christa Gail Pike, 50, marking the state's first execution of a woman since 1820, following the denial of her clemency appeal.
The state of Tennessee is preparing to execute Christa Gail Pike, 50, by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. If carried out, this will be the first execution of a woman in the state since 1820.
Pike was convicted of the January 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in Knoxville. Suspecting that Slemmer was trying to take her boyfriend, Pike lured her to a wooded area, slashed her with a box cutter, and beat her to death with an asphalt chunk.
Pike's defense attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency request. The defense argues that Pike suffered from severe mental illness and a history of childhood abuse, noting that death sentences for other 18-year-olds in the state have previously been overturned.
Executions of women in the United States are exceptionally rare. Since 1976, only 18 women have been executed nationwide, accounting for roughly one percent of all executions in the country.
