US state is set to execute its first woman in over 200 years in six months

A US state is set to execute its first woman in over 200 years within the next six months.

Christa Gail Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, was convicted of a murder so violent it has continued to shock the state for decades.

Pike was just 18 when she brutally killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer on January 12, 1995, after luring her to a wooded area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus.

The two were part of the Knoxville Job Corps program, where Pike had become jealous over her boyfriend, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp, believing Slemmer was interested in him.

According to court records, Pike cut Slemmer with a box cutter, struck her with a cleaver, and crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt.

A pentagram was carved into Slemmer’s chest.

A groundskeeper later discovered her body and recalled that the teen victim was "so badly beaten that he had first mistaken [her body] for the corpse of an animal," per CBS News.

After the gruesome murder, Pike collected a fragment of Slemmer’s skull, showing it off to classmates and bragging about the killing. She admitted to continuing the violence even when Slemmer "begged" her to stop.

A University of Tennessee police officer testified that Pike even returned to the scene after the body was found and "seemed amused," adding: "She was giggling," USA Today reported.

Pike's Appeals, Remorse, and Legal Battle

Pike, who just turned 50 on March 10, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death. She is set to be executed by lethal injection about six months from now, on September 30.

Meanwhile, her boyfriend received life with the possibility of parole, and another accomplice was given probation.

Her case has moved through decades of appeals, with her legal team arguing that her age at the time, history of abuse, and mental health conditions should exempt her from execution.

"Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect," her defense team stated. "With time and treatment, she has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime."

Pike herself has expressed regret in a letter, writing: "I was a mentally ill 18 yr. 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 effected [sic].

"I took the life of someone's child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think that someone as loving and compassionate as myself had the ability to commit such a crime."

Her attorneys also claim that if she were tried today, she would not receive the death penalty.

Fight Over Execution Method

In January, Pike’s legal team filed a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s lethal injection method.

They contended it could cause excessive pain and violate her constitutional rights.

They also argued that her medical condition, thrombocytosis, could lead to complications and that her Buddhist beliefs stop her from choosing electrocution as an alternative.

In addition to this, her lawyers also raised concerns about the state’s new execution protocol, citing previous cases where inmates appeared to suffer during lethal injections.

However, the state has pushed back strongly. In a filing, officials stated that "the Eighth Amendment does not guarantee a prisoner a painless death" and that "some risk of pain is inherent in any method of execution - no matter how humane."

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti also added: "Pike has offered nothing but speculation that the well-established, constitutional lethal injection method poses any unique risk in her case...We wish Pike’s commitment to the sanctity of life had arrived in time to save Colleen Slemmer."

The Case Still Divides Opinion

The case continues to spark strong reactions from both sides. Supporters of Pike point to her traumatic childhood and mental illness, while others, including Slemmer’s family, have long called for justice to be carried out.

The late victim's mother, May Martinez, has spent years fighting for closure. "My heart breaks every single day because I keep reliving it and reliving it, and I can't no more, and I want this to happen before I die," she said.

"There's not a day [that] goes by that I don't think about Colleen or how she died and how rough it was," Martinez added. "I just want Christa down so I can end it, relieve my daughter, so she finally can be resting."

Featured image credit: the Tennessee Department of Corrections