Supreme Court Denies Last-Ditch Effort to Halt Execution of Christa Pike
Pike, convicted in 1996 for the murder of a classmate, is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in over two centuries.
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a last-minute petition to halt the execution of Christa Pike, who is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday. Pike, 50, has been on death row since her conviction in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old classmate.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee previously denied a request for clemency, stating that he would not intervene in the execution.
Pike and her then-boyfriend committed the murder when Pike was 18. They beat and tortured Slemmer, whom they had met at a job training camp for troubled teenagers.
Pike's scheduled execution marks a significant, though grim, milestone. She will be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Nationwide, only 18 women have been executed in the U.S. since the 1970s, compared to 1,663 men during the same period.