Tennessee to execute first woman in 200 years as clemency denied

• Defense lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court for an emergency stay, citing Pike's childhood trauma, mental illness, and age at the time of the crime.
• Pike was convicted in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.

Death row inmate Christa Pike is scheduled to be executed on Wednesday after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied her request for executive clemency, paving the way for what would be the state’s first execution of a woman in over two centuries, according to The Guardian. 

Pike, now 50, was 18 years old when she and her 17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, murdered 19-year-old Job Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder the following year and sentenced to death, making her the youngest woman placed on death row in US history.

The case drew widespread national attention due to the youth of those involved, the extreme violence of the attack, and a satanic symbol carved into the victim's body.

"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Governor Lee said in a statement on Monday.

Following Lee's decision, Pike's legal team submitted an emergency stay request to the US Supreme Court. Her attorneys expressed “heartbreak” over the governor's refusal to grant clemency, stating that the decision disregards decades of legal and scientific consensus surrounding adolescent trauma and accountability.

"The 18-year-old girl suffering from severe mental illness and near-debilitating trauma no longer exists," Pike’s attorneys said in a statement. "Christa is a 50-year-old remorseful woman who understands her actions, receives proper treatment for her mental illness, and provides for and guides fellow incarcerated women."

In her clemency petition, Pike expressed remorse for the killing. "I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done... It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime," she stated.

Pike survives execution attempt

Christa Pike has been rushed to a nearby hospital following a botched execution attempt, according to her legal team. Her attorneys intervened to halt the procedure after two separate lethal injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her.

In emergency court filings, her lawyers noted that while Pike had lost consciousness, she retained a heartbeat and was "audibly snoring." One of her defense attorneys confirmed to the BBC that Pike is currently receiving life-saving medical treatment.

Christa Pike woke up "foggy" after failed execution attempt

Pike's attorney shared that Pike woke up but remains mentally foggy, frequently loses her train of thought, and suffers from severe arm swelling, sparking concerns about long-term damage.

Her sudden recovery occurred only hours before physicians were set to turn off life support.

Just the evening before, both her legal team and medical personnel assumed she was brain-dead as a result of the botched procedure. The crisis started last Wednesday when state authorities gave her two lethal doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt.