The Christa Pike case is Tennessee’s most closely watched death penalty matter: Pike, the only woman on the state’s death row, was sentenced to die in 1996 for the torture murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer and is now scheduled for execution on September 30, 2026. If carried out, it would be the first execution of a woman in Tennessee since 1820.1TN.gov. Women on Death Row Pike has already filed suit challenging the state’s lethal injection protocol, so whether the date holds is an open question.
The 1995 Murder of Colleen Slemmer
Pike was 18 years old and a student at the Job Corps training center in Knoxville when she killed Slemmer, a fellow student. She had grown jealous of Slemmer, believing Slemmer was pursuing her 17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. On the night of January 12, 1995, Pike, Shipp, and their 18-year-old friend Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to an isolated area near the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus under the pretense of smoking marijuana.2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion
The attack lasted roughly 30 minutes. Pike and Shipp beat and slashed Slemmer with a box cutter and a small meat cleaver while Peterson kept watch. They carved a pentagram into her chest. Pike ended the assault by striking Slemmer’s head repeatedly with a large chunk of asphalt, then kept a fragment of the skull as a trophy. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has said publicly that her daughter was cut more than 300 times.
The investigation moved quickly. Two university employees found the body the next morning. A Job Corps dormitory logbook showed four residents had signed out together and only three returned. Pike began showing the skull fragment to other students at the center, and detectives recovered it from her jacket pocket during questioning.1TN.gov. Women on Death Row Pike and Shipp were arrested within 36 hours. Both confessed. Pike waived her Miranda rights and gave a detailed statement, claiming they had only meant to scare Slemmer and that things “got out of control.”2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion
Trial, Conviction, and Death Sentence
Pike was charged with first-degree premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The confession, the skull fragment, and the logbook gave the prosecution an overwhelming case. On March 22, 1996, after a few hours of deliberation, the jury convicted her on both counts.2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion
In the penalty phase, the jury found two aggravating circumstances: that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel because it involved torture and serious physical abuse beyond what was necessary to cause death, and that it was committed to avoid arrest or prosecution.3Justia. Tennessee Code 39-13-204 – Sentencing for Offenses Punishable by Death Pike’s defense called Dr. Eric Engum, a psychologist, who testified that Pike had severe borderline personality disorder and had acted out of a loss of control rather than deliberation. The jury was not persuaded. Pike was sentenced to death by electrocution for the murder and to 25 years for the conspiracy conviction.2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion She became the youngest woman sentenced to death in Tennessee in the modern death penalty era.
A single year separated Pike’s fate from Shipp’s. Because Shipp was 17 at the time of the crime, he was not eligible for the death penalty. That age gap has run through Pike’s legal challenges ever since.
What Happened to the Accomplices
Shipp was convicted of murder and sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion He became eligible for parole consideration in 2025 and was denied release in October of that year due to the seriousness of the offense. His case is set for review again in 2031.
Peterson cooperated with investigators and turned informant. She was convicted as an accessory and sentenced to probation, reflecting her cooperation and her lesser role as lookout.
Why the Appeals Failed
Pike’s appeals ran through Tennessee’s state courts and into federal court over nearly three decades. The central claim was ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase: that her trial lawyers never gave the jury the full picture of her background before it chose between life and death.
After sentencing, a second expert, Dr. Jonathan Pincus, examined Pike and reached conclusions sharply different from those Engum offered at trial, diagnosing organic brain damage, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion Appellate filings also described a childhood her trial team had barely explored: prenatal alcohol exposure that damaged the part of her brain regulating impulses, severe early neglect, repeated childhood rapes, alcohol and marijuana dependence by age 12, and multiple suicide attempts as a teenager.
Every court that examined the claim rejected it. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed on direct appeal. State post-conviction relief was denied. A federal district court denied habeas corpus. In August 2019, the Sixth Circuit affirmed that denial, acknowledging the additional mitigating evidence but concluding that the state court had not unreasonably applied federal law in finding no prejudice: the jury had already heard expert testimony about Pike’s impaired impulse control, and the aggravating circumstances were severe enough that more mitigation was unlikely to have changed the verdict.2United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Pike v. Gross – Opinion
Pike also argued that the Eighth Amendment should categorically bar executing mentally ill and brain-damaged 18-year-olds, extending Supreme Court rulings that had already barred executing the intellectually disabled and juveniles. Tennessee’s Court of Criminal Appeals found no national consensus to extend those protections.4Supreme Court of the United States. Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, Pike v. Gross, No. 19-1054 The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, effectively closing her federal appeals.
At one point Pike tried to waive her appeals and asked for an execution date, then reversed course, triggering additional litigation over her competency to make that decision. Courts allowed the appeals to continue.
Incidents in Prison
Two prison incidents have cut against Pike in the years since sentencing.
The 2001 Assault on Patricia Jones
During the early morning of August 24, 2001, inmates at the Tennessee Prison for Women were evacuated for a fire. When a dispute broke out between inmate Natasha Cornett and inmate Patricia Jones, Pike wrapped a heavy boot lace around Jones’s neck and tried to strangle her. When a correctional officer tried to pull her off, Pike told her, “The way you’re pulling my hands, you’re just helping me choke the bitch.”5Justia. Christa Gail Pike v. State of Tennessee
Pike claimed she had been defending Cornett, but her own statements cut against that. In a recorded call to her mother days later, she said she had “premeditated the hell out of this.” She told a friend in another call that she had warned prison staff she “would kill if I ever got near her.” A sergeant who spoke with her after the incident described her as “proud and unremorseful” and said Pike stated she would have killed Jones with 30 more seconds. Pike was convicted of attempted first-degree murder and received an additional 25-year sentence.5Justia. Christa Gail Pike v. State of Tennessee
The 2012 Escape Plot
In early 2012, the Tennessee Department of Correction received intelligence about a plan to break Pike out of prison. Working with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the department identified two suspects. Justin Heflin, a 23-year-old correctional officer at the prison, was indicted on bribery, official misconduct, conspiracy to commit escape, and facilitation of escape. Donald Kohut, a 34-year-old from New Jersey who had befriended Pike through prison visits and met Heflin there, was indicted on bribery and conspiracy to commit escape. Heflin was fired, and Kohut was arrested in New Jersey pending extradition.6TN.gov. TDOC and TBI Foil Escape Attempt
The Solitary Confinement Lawsuit
Because Pike is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, her day-to-day incarceration has looked very different from that of male death row prisoners. Men on death row can, with good behavior, work jobs, eat together, and spend time outside their cells. Pike spent close to 30 years in a seven-by-twelve-foot cell for 22 to 24 hours a day with almost no meaningful human contact.
In 2022, attorneys from the law firm Bass, Berry & Sims sued on Pike’s behalf, arguing that her conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and that she was in de facto solitary confinement solely because she was the only woman sentenced to death in the state. The suit settled in 2024, giving Pike increased opportunities for social interaction, a job, and shared meals with other inmates.
The Scheduled Execution and Pending Challenge
The Tennessee Supreme Court set Pike’s execution for September 30, 2026 in an order issued on September 30, 2025. Tennessee has shifted its default execution method from electrocution to lethal injection using the single drug pentobarbital, so Pike will not face the electrocution originally imposed at sentencing.
In January 2026, Pike filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court contesting the state’s revised lethal injection protocol. The complaint raises both constitutional and religious objections and cites what her attorneys describe as her unique medical conditions. Her legal team is seeking a permanent injunction against the current protocol along with a stay of execution, pointing to stays granted to two male death row inmates whose challenges to earlier protocols were allowed to proceed before their scheduled executions.
If that challenge fails, Pike’s remaining path is a clemency petition to the Governor. Tennessee’s clemency process requires a completed application to the Board of Parole, which investigates and holds a hearing before making a non-binding recommendation; the Governor alone decides whether to grant relief, and there is no fixed timeline.7TN.gov. Frequently Asked Questions – Clemency8Legal Information Institute. Duties and Procedures of Board in Executive Clemency Matters Between the brutality of the underlying crime, the attempted murder in prison, and the escape plot, any clemency bid would face steep odds.