Christa Pike set for execution in Tennessee Sept. 30 after 1995 slaying

Tennessee's only woman on death row, Christa Pike, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 30 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

Tennessee set to execute Christa Pike, its only woman on death row, next week

Death row inmate Christa Pike is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Sept. 30 in Nashville, more than 30 years after she murdered 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a friend she regarded as a romantic rival. Toronto Sun Crime reports that Tennessee's Supreme Court has rejected a request to stay the execution, leaving the 50-year-old just days from becoming the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.

Pike is the sole woman on Tennessee's death row and one of 45 women across the United States currently facing execution, according to USA Today.

A 1995 killing on a university campus

Both Pike and Slemmer were students at Knoxville Job Corps at the time of the murder. Slemmer was lured to the University of Tennessee's Agricultural campus in 1995 under the pretence of smoking marijuana with Pike, Pike's then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and their associate Shadolla Peterson. Pike and Shipp then attacked Slemmer, beating and stabbing her to death. They carved a pentagram into her chest.

Detectives said Pike took a piece of Slemmer's skull as a trophy and later showed it to friends.

Pike was 18 at the time of the murder and was sentenced to death. Shipp, who was a minor, received a life sentence with the possibility of parole. In 2004, Pike was convicted on an additional charge after attempting to strangle a fellow inmate with a shoestring during a prison altercation.

Clemency bid cites years of childhood sexual abuse

Pike's lawyers have not abandoned their efforts. They filed a 226-page clemency petition and are still seeking a last-minute reprieve, according to News.com.au. Pike herself has said she is "terrified" of dying by lethal injection.

The clemency argument being advanced is unusual. Her legal team and dozens of women's advocacy groups and sexual abuse experts contend that the execution itself could re-traumatise Pike due to severe abuse she endured from early childhood. Court documents obtained by USA Today show that Pike was sexually assaulted repeatedly by her grandmother's boyfriend before she was in preschool, with the abuse continuing into kindergarten. At 11, a neighbour raped her, resulting in an infection. A year later, she attempted suicide. At 17, she was dragged into the woods and raped by a stranger, court records state.

The state does not dispute that Pike suffered years of sexual violence or that she was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The Tennessee Attorney General's Office argues, however, that this history does not diminish her responsibility for Slemmer's murder, USA Today reports.

Under Tennessee's current execution protocol, Pike would be strapped to a gurney and administered a single dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital.

Final requests

Should the execution proceed as scheduled, Pike has made one final request: she wants an all-female execution team and has asked that witnesses, including members of Slemmer's family, be present, per News.com.au.

Source: Toronto Sun Crime