Tennessee is less than two weeks away from an execution that could become a rare moment in the state’s history.
Christa Pike, 50, is scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. Central Time on Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. She is the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. The crime happened when Pike was 18.
Three decades later, there is no dispute that Slemmer was brutally killed or that Pike participated in her murder. What remains unsettled is whether Pike’s death sentence will actually be carried out.
Her lawyers are pursuing clemency and other legal arguments ahead of Sept. 30. At the same time, Slemmer’s mother is preparing for an execution she has waited decades to see.
The result has brought Tennessee back to some of the hardest questions surrounding capital punishment: how much weight should be given to the age and history of the person who committed a murder, what is owed to the victim’s family, and when — if ever — should a death sentence be reduced after decades in prison?
Tennessee Is Already Preparing for Sept. 30
The execution remains officially scheduled.
The Tennessee Supreme Court set the Sept. 30, 2026, date in an order issued last year. The court said Pike had completed the standard appeals process and rejected an earlier request that it recommend commutation. The order leaves open the possibility that another court or appropriate authority could intervene.
The Tennessee Department of Correction is moving ahead with its preparations.
On Sept. 14, the department issued instructions for news organizations planning to cover the execution at Riverbend. TDOC has also selected seven journalists to serve as official media witnesses.
Those steps do not mean every legal question has been resolved. They do show that, as of Sept. 16, Tennessee is preparing as though the execution will happen.
Pike’s attorneys are asking Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison without parole. A clemency decision ultimately belongs to the governor. Tennessee’s Board of Parole can review clemency applications and make recommendations, but those recommendations are not binding.
No decision from Lee on Pike’s request had been announced as of Sept. 16.
The Murder Happened in Knoxville in 1995
Slemmer and Pike were both part of a Knoxville Job Corps program when Slemmer was killed on Jan. 12, 1995.
According to court records and reporting by the Nashville Banner, Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and another teenager, Shadolla Peterson, took Slemmer to a secluded area near the University of Tennessee agricultural campus.
Slemmer was beaten and cut before being killed.
Pike was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1996. Tennessee Department of Correction records show she has been on death row since that March.
Shipp, who was 17 when the murder happened, received a life sentence. Peterson testified for prosecutors and did not receive a prison sentence, according to the Nashville Banner’s reporting.
For Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, the passage of more than 30 years has not erased what happened.
Martinez told the Banner that the murder changed her family’s life and that memories connected to her daughter remained difficult decades later. She said she plans to travel to Tennessee for Pike’s execution and hopes the end of the case may bring some measure of peace.
Pike’s Lawyers Say Her Childhood Matters
Pike’s clemency effort does not challenge the basic fact of her guilt.
Instead, her attorneys are asking the state to consider what happened before the murder, what has happened during her decades in prison, and what they argue has changed in the understanding of trauma and young adults.
The clemency petition describes a childhood marked by repeated sexual abuse, violence, neglect, substance use and serious mental-health problems.
A psychological evaluation cited by the Nashville Banner described Pike’s childhood trauma as exceptionally severe. The report says she experienced sexual abuse beginning when she was very young and later developed serious psychiatric symptoms.
Her lawyers argue that those circumstances were not given enough weight when she was sentenced.
They have also raised concerns about the execution itself.
In proceedings this summer, Pike’s attorneys argued that her physical and psychological conditions could create an unusually high risk of suffering during lethal injection. A court-appointed special master ultimately concluded that the legal standard needed to stop the execution on those grounds had not been met, according to the Banner.
Recent Tennessee Supreme Court filings show the litigation has continued. Briefs and other filings were submitted into September, including material from outside organizations seeking to participate in the case.
Two Very Different Stories Now Meet at the Same Date
That is what makes the Pike case especially difficult to reduce to a simple argument.
There is the story of Colleen Slemmer, who was 19 and whose mother has spent more than three decades living with her murder.
There is also the story Pike’s attorneys are putting before the governor: an abused teenager who committed a horrific crime, received a death sentence at a young age and is now a 50-year-old woman who has spent essentially her entire adult life in prison.
People involved with Pike during her incarceration have told the Banner that she is very different from the teenager described in the 1995 murder case. Her supporters point to relationships she has developed with other incarcerated women and argue that her behavior today should be part of the clemency decision.
Slemmer’s family, meanwhile, has lived with consequences that cannot be reversed by Pike’s rehabilitation or by another court ruling.
Neither fact erases the other.
Why This Execution Would Be Unusual for Tennessee
TDOC lists Pike as the only woman among Tennessee’s current death-row population.
If the execution proceeds, published historical accounts indicate she would be the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than two centuries. The Nashville Banner reports that the last such execution occurred more than 200 years ago.
That makes Sept. 30 more than another date on Tennessee’s execution calendar.
It is also a case involving a person who was 18 at the time of the crime, dramatically different sentences among the three young people involved, decades of litigation, claims of severe childhood abuse, and a victim’s mother who is still waiting for the criminal case to finally reach its end.
What Happens Next
For now, Sept. 30 remains the official date.
Tennessee has already selected media witnesses and issued logistical instructions for the execution at Riverbend.
Pike’s attorneys can continue pursuing available court action, and Gov. Lee retains authority over her clemency request.
Until one of those paths changes the situation, Tennessee is preparing to carry out the death sentence.
For Slemmer’s family, the date represents the possible end of a case that began in Knoxville in 1995.
For Pike’s attorneys and supporters, it represents the rapidly closing window to convince a court or the governor that a death sentence imposed three decades ago should not be carried out.
Sources
Nashville Banner reporting by Steven Hale, republished by WTVF/NewsChannel 5, including interviews with Colleen Slemmer’s mother and members of Pike’s legal team.
Tennessee Supreme Court order setting Pike’s execution for Sept. 30, 2026.
Tennessee Department of Correction execution advisory and media-witness notices.
Tennessee Department of Correction death-row records.
Tennessee Courts appellate case record showing recent filings in Pike’s case.
Tennessee Board of Parole information on executive clemency proceedings.
