Abuse Evidence at Center of Last-Minute Stay in Tennessee Execution
A federal appeals court halted Christa Pike’s execution Wednesday as judges considered whether the state’s acknowledgment of her childhood sexual abuse undermines earlier court proceedings.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A dispute over how courts treated evidence of childhood sexual abuse halted Christa Gail Pike’s execution Wednesday, roughly an hour before Tennessee was scheduled to put its only female death-row prisoner to death.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the temporary stay shortly before 9 a.m. CDT, stopping a planned lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike, 50, would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
The ruling leaves her conviction and death sentence intact while judges examine whether her latest challenge can proceed. Tennessee immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay.
At the center of the dispute is Pike’s argument that the state previously portrayed her accounts of childhood sexual abuse and rape as fabricated but recently acknowledged that she suffered that abuse. Her attorneys contend that the change undermines findings relied upon in earlier reviews of her case.
State attorneys counter that Pike is attempting to revive an unsuccessful claim that her trial lawyers failed to investigate and present evidence of her abuse. They argue that federal restrictions on repeated challenges to criminal convictions prevent her from pursuing the claim again.
Judges Jane Stranch and Karen Nelson Moore supported the pause. Judge Richard Griffin dissented, arguing that the state’s recent remarks introduced no new facts and did not justify reopening the case. The majority set no expiration date, leaving the stay in effect until another court order.
Pike was 18 when she and two companions killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in January 1995. Both women attended the Knoxville Job Corps vocational program. Trial testimony indicated that Pike viewed Slemmer as a rival for her boyfriend’s attention.
Slemmer was lured into a wooded area, tortured and killed. The attack included carving a pentagram into her chest; Pike kept a fragment of her skull. Pike received a death sentence in 1996. Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received life imprisonment with parole eligibility. Shadolla Peterson, 18, testified for the prosecution and received probation. Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, supports carrying out the execution.
Pike’s attorneys sought clemency through a 226-page petition requesting life imprisonment without parole. They cited repeated childhood sexual abuse, neglect, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosed after her incarceration. They also argued that prenatal alcohol exposure impaired her development and that treatment has helped her become remorseful and supportive of other incarcerated women. Gov. Bill Lee denied clemency Monday.
Her lawyers describe the death sentence as an outlier: Of eight people sentenced to death in modern Tennessee history for crimes committed at age 18, the other seven — all men — have had their death sentences vacated, according to her clemency petition.
A separate challenge addressed whether execution procedures could trigger severe trauma associated with Pike’s abuse. Tennessee said it arranged female officers for her transport, sought to assign female staff to observe her and provided privacy accommodations. A court-appointed special master concluded that she had not established the required likelihood of unconstitutional suffering. The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected that stay request, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene Tuesday.
The case also drew scrutiny from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In a report published Sept. 24, the commission found that Pike’s appointed lawyers inadequately investigated her background and mental health. It also criticized her prolonged solitary confinement and recommended reviewing and commuting her sentence. Those findings are separate from Wednesday’s federal court ruling.
For now, the immediate question is whether Pike’s argument warrants further judicial review — and whether the Supreme Court will allow the temporary pause to stand.
