US3 min(s) read
Christa Gail Pike's execution date has been confirmed for this month, with the death row inmate set to become the first woman killed by a US state in 200 years.
The 50-year-old remains the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row, and she is due to be executed on September 30, 2026.
Back in 1996, Pike was sentenced to death after murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
She was involved in a case that became known locally as the "Job Corps Murder," alongside her boyfriend Tiddell Shipp and friend Shadolla Peterson, who were convicted to lesser sentences.
Pike and Slemmer were both enrolled in a Knoxville job-training program for troubled teens, as prosecutors argued Pike believed Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend.
Court filings and trial testimony suggest that Pike struck Slemmer with a piece of asphalt before dragging her into nearby woods, torturing her and slitting her throat with a box cutter.
Pike's challenges against the method used for her upcoming execution have largely been rejected by a special judge, acting as a clerk and master.
It only spent time in court in Knox County for the best part of a week in August.
Pike was trying to challenge the US state's lethal injection method and protocol for the final moments of her life, as her legal team has argued that her blood condition, thrombocytosis, will cause unconstitutional suffering.
They claimed that her condition would worsen under the intravenous injection of a fatal dose of pentobarbital, while saying that she also has small and compromised veins that will add to the suffering of receiving the lethal injection.
But in a report released on Friday, Senior Judge Mark Ward said that her condition would not get in the way of starting an IV.
Experts also said she would lose consciousness within 20 to 30 seconds after receiving the lethal dose, before she could feel any pain.
In their explanation, the court said that Pike gave little proof that her veins are too small for an IV, as Ward highlighted that the inmate's medical records revealed that attempts to draw blood in the past worked out.
He added: "At most, Ms. Pike has shown that she could experience some unknown amount of pain from peripheral IV access, but no more than any other person would."
Despite this conclusion, Pike's legal team said that it would be more humane to execute their client with a deeper central line IV or by hanging.
Ward said that using a central line is a small change and not a different execution method, claiming that hanging is a more dangerous and painful method of death.
Furthermore, the court said that the prison system no longer has hanging equipment or anyone who is trained to perform that method.
Pike, a Buddhist, argued for having her religious advisor in the execution room, where Ward acknowledged that an arrangement had been agreed before the hearing.
Her Buddhist advisor will be present at the time of her death, after spending over 30 years on death row.
Pike's movement to Riverbend Maximum Security Prison (RMSI) in Nashville, 24 hours before her execution, will also be accommodated.
