Death row inmate set to become first woman executed in 200 years makes final plea

A woman sentenced to death has begged for mercy 26 days before her execution is set to take place.

Christa Pike, 50, could become the first woman in Tennessee to be executed under the death penalty in more than 200 years if her scheduled execution on September 30 goes ahead.

Pike was convicted of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1996 for the torture killing of her Jobs Corps classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995.

Pike, born in West Virginia, was handed the death penalty for the murder charge when she was just 20 years old.

She has had several stays of execution in the 30 years since - having once had an execution date set for August 19, 2002, after she had dropped her appeal before changing her mind - and is now hoping for another.

Pike's legal team has asked Governor Bill Lee to change her sentence from the death penalty to life in prison without parole.

"Commuting her sentence to life without possibility of parole does not absolve her of her guilt," her legal team wrote on Thursday as they asked for clemency, as per News Channel 5.

"To the contrary, it would continue to hold her accountable for the remainder of her natural life."

Christa Pike was sentenced to death at the age of 20. (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

What Christa Pike did to Colleen Slemmer

On January 12, 1995, Pike lured Slemmer to a secluded wooded area and attacked her alongside boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, while another friend, 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson, kept watch.

Pike, who was 18 at the time, had grown jealous of Slemmer for trying to 'steal' Shipp, and for half an hour they beat, slashed and taunted her.

Pike eventually killed Slemmer by hitting her in the head with a piece of asphalt and kept a piece of her skull, which she went on to show off at school.

Her legal team argue that Pike's traumatic upbringing, in which she suffered rape, sexual assault and abuse, as well as untreated mental illness, were mitigating factors in her actions that night.

"These realities do not excuse what happened," the release continued.

"But they are essential to understanding how such an unimaginable act became possible and how profoundly adults and institutions failed to support a child in desperate need."

Colleen Slemmer was just 19 when she was killed (Find a Grave)

"We respectfully urge Governor Lee show Christa mercy.”

Kelly Gleason, Pike's lawyer, claimed her client, who was also convicted of attempted first degree murder after attacking fellow inmate Patricia Jones in 2001 and handed a 25-year sentence, has 'deep remorse for her actions.'

Gleason wrote: "We call on the governor to consider the tragedy of Christa’s childhood and the way in which the adults and institutions charged with her care consistently failed to protect a vulnerable child.

"We respectfully urge Governor Lee show Christa mercy.”

Shipp was also found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility - which he was denied in October 2025.

Peterson agreed to become a witness and received probation for pleading guilty to beng an accessory after the fact.

If Pike, who was discovered to have made plans to escape prison in March 2012, is executed, she'll become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1819, though history has not recorded who that was, and the 579th woman to be executed in the history of the US.

Pike has the choice between lethal injection or the electric chair. She sought death by electrocution back in 2002.