Youngest woman to be given death sentence in US is still alive three decades later

The youngest woman who was ever sentenced to death in the US is yet to be executed three decades later.

Christa Pike was convicted for the brutal murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, on January 12, 1995, in Tennessee, per USA Today.

Christa Pike. Credit: Tennessee Department of Corrections

Believing that Slemmer, 19, was attempting to steal her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, Pike lured her to a secluded location under the pretense of making peace by offering her cannabis.

Instead, Pike and Shipp, along with 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, ambushed Slemmer in the woods.

According to court testimony, Slemmer was brutally beaten and slashed for over 30 minutes, with Pike carving a pentagram into her chest.

The attack culminated with Pike killing Slemmer by smashing her skull with a chunk of asphalt. Pike then kept a piece of Slemmer’s skull and later showed it to her classmates.

Pike, Shipp, and Peterson were swiftly arrested following the murder. Despite confessing to the crime, Pike claimed that she had only intended to frighten Slemmer.

On March 22, 1996, Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. She was sentenced to death by electrocution, making her the youngest woman in the U.S. to receive a death sentence, as reported by FOX News.

Pike was 18 at the time of the crime.

Fast forward to three decades later and Pike, now 47, is still on death row awaiting her execution.

Pike has repeatedly appealed her conviction and sentence over the years. She once had an execution date set for August 19, 2002, but a month before that, she changed her mind and resumed her appeal.

Her time behind bars has been tumultuous. In 2001, Pike attempted to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones with a shoelace, leading to a conviction for attempted murder in 2004. In 2012, a plot to break Pike out of prison was uncovered.

The plan involved Donald Kohut, a man who had been corresponding with Pike, and corrections officer Justin Heflin.

Both men were arrested, with Kohut receiving a seven-year sentence and Heflin being fired.

Pike was not charged in connection to the escape plot, as her role in the plan remained unclear.

On September 12 of this year, the Tennessee Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal challenging her death sentence, per the Tennessean.

Pike's legal team had argued that she was too young - 18 at the time of the crime - for a fair death sentence, but previous courts, including Knox County and the Tennessee Court of Appeals, had rejected this claim.

“We are disappointed in the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision to deny our request to hear Christa Pike’s appeal, but we remain confident that Christa’s death sentence will be set aside when her youth and severe mental illness at the time of the offense are truly taken into consideration," attorneys Kelly Gleason and Randy Spivey of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender said in a statement.

Gleason added that they are "weighing our options" to continue challenging the sentence.

Just days later, Pike secured a small victory in a separate case. On September 16, her attorneys from Bass, Berry & Sims reached a settlement with state officials, allowing Pike increased privileges and more social interaction with others.

As the only woman on death row, Pike has spent much of the past three decades in near isolation at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville.

Legal filings argue this isolation has caused "irreparable" damage to her mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

While male death row inmates are also separated from the general prison population, they are allowed time around each other.

Despite the ongoing legal efforts, May Martinez, Slemmer’s mother, has consistently called for Pike's execution.

Featured image credit: Tennessee Department of Corrections