Christa Pike, 50, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Tennessee at 10 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, September 30, after Governor Bill Lee declined to grant clemency. Pike’s attorneys are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, which would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman since 1820.
The Tennessee Department of Correction plans to carry out the sentence at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. According to the department’s death penalty information, Tennessee’s current lethal-injection protocol uses a single drug, pentobarbital.
Execution Scheduled for September 30
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Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996 for killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville on January 12, 1995. Pike was 18 at the time. Court filings describe a prolonged attack, and Pike has not disputed her responsibility for Slemmer’s death.
The Tennessee Supreme Court set September 30, 2026, as Pike’s execution date in an order issued a year earlier. More recently, on September 23, the court denied her request for a stay of execution and rejected another motion connected with her challenge to the state’s execution procedures.
Governor Bill Lee announced on September 28 that he would not intervene. Lee said he had reviewed Pike’s clemency request before deciding to uphold the sentence. Pike’s lawyers had sought commutation to life imprisonment, citing her age when the crime occurred, severe childhood abuse, mental illness and evidence they say was inadequately presented during her original sentencing, according to The Guardian’s report.
Supreme Court Briefing Completed on September 28
The most recent verified legal activity is at the U.S. Supreme Court. Pike filed a petition for a writ of certiorari and an application for a stay on September 25. On September 28, Tennessee filed its brief opposing her petition, and Pike’s attorneys filed their reply later the same day. The filings are listed on the Supreme Court docket.
Tennessee argues that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction over part of Pike’s challenge because the relevant state-court ruling was not a final judgment. The state also argues that Pike received adequate judicial review and that her Eighth Amendment challenge to the execution procedure does not justify a stay. Those are the state’s legal positions, not findings by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pike’s attorneys dispute that account. Their September 28 reply argues that Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 12(4)(E), which governs litigation affecting the method or timing of executions, effectively prevented Pike from obtaining substantive review of her method-of-execution claims. They contend that this raises federal due-process questions requiring Supreme Court intervention.
As of the latest available docket update, no order granting or denying Pike’s stay application had been posted.
Mental Health, Age and the Victim’s Family
Pike’s clemency case focused heavily on circumstances her attorneys say were not adequately considered at sentencing. Her lawyers say she endured repeated sexual abuse and neglect as a child and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. They also argue that scientific knowledge about adolescent brain development has advanced substantially since her 1996 trial. Associated Press reporting details those arguments and the positions presented by both sides.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, supports carrying out the sentence. She told the Associated Press that she continues to think about her daughter daily and has waited decades for the sentence imposed on Pike to be carried out.
The case is also unusual because executions of women remain rare in the United States. The Death Penalty Information Center says 18 women have been executed nationwide since 1976, representing about 1% of executions during the modern death-penalty era. Tennessee has not executed a woman since 1820.
The Supreme Court Is the Immediate Legal Focus
Unless the U.S. Supreme Court or another appropriate authority intervenes, Tennessee’s execution order remains in effect for September 30. The Supreme Court can deny the pending application, grant a temporary stay, or take further action on Pike’s petition.
For now, the legal dispute has narrowed to the final federal filings. Tennessee maintains that the sentence and execution process have received sufficient review. Pike’s attorneys argue that unresolved constitutional claims require more time before the state carries out the death sentence.
