Tennessee prepares to execute woman on death row after decades of appeals

Tennessee will carry out the lethal injection of 50-year-old Christa Pike on Wednesday, marking the first execution of a woman in the state in more than two centuries. Pike, who has been on death row for over 30 years for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer, wrote to NBC News that she is "at peace" regardless of clemency outcomes but remains "nervous about the process."

Governor Bill Lee declined to intervene in Pike’s case, prompting her legal team to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay. The attorneys argue that Pike suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from extensive childhood sexual and physical abuse, and that the lethal injection protocol could cause severe mental suffering. The state’s attorney general responded that a lower court had already deemed such claims speculative.

Pike’s defense highlighted that her co-defendants received lesser sentences: Tadaryl Shipp, 17 at the time of the crime, was sentenced to life with parole eligibility, while another accomplice received probation. Lawyers contend that modern research on adolescent brain development and the previously undisclosed abuse history would likely affect sentencing today.

A psychologist hired by the defense described Pike’s trauma as "almost impossible to grasp" and noted that prison medication had helped her develop empathy and regret. The victim’s mother, May Martinez, said she plans to watch the execution, holding a photo of her daughter.

Tennessee corrections officials said they would accommodate Pike’s request for female guards during the transfer and may assemble an all-female execution team, though a male physician who participated in a recent failed lethal injection will also be present. Pike’s spiritual adviser, Rev. Mikey Noechel, said he will bless the chamber and offer Buddhist prayers, expressing compassion for both the victim’s family and Pike.