Tennessee Woman Facing Execution Makes Unusual Final Request as Lawyers Push for Last-Minute Clemency

Christa Gail Pike appears remotely from Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation for her hearing in Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tenn., on Aug. 11, 2026.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

With her scheduled execution just days away, Christa Pike has made an unusual request about who should be present to carry it out — while her attorneys continue a last-minute effort to have her death sentence reduced to life in prison without parole.

Pike, 50, is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on September 30 unless Gov. Bill Lee intervenes. If the execution proceeds, she would become the first woman put to death in the state since 1819. Her lawyers have submitted a 226-page clemency petition and say she is terrified as the date approaches.

Pike Makes Special Request Ahead of Execution

Christa Gail Pike looks at her mother after the jury read the guilty verdict in Knox County Criminal Court on March 29, 1996.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

If clemency is denied, Pike has requested that an all-female team carry out the execution. Her attorneys say the request is connected to post-traumatic stress stemming from abuse she suffered at the hands of men beginning in childhood.

Her legal team has also raised concerns about lethal injection because of what they describe as a rare blood disorder that could complicate the procedure. Pike previously went to court seeking a different execution method, arguing through her attorneys that the planned procedure created an increased risk of pain and suffering.

Her ultimate request, however, is clemency and a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

The state has opposed her efforts, arguing that Pike has not provided sufficient scientific evidence to justify stopping the execution.

A Murder Case Dating Back More Than 30 Years

Christa Gail Pike is escorted from Knox County Criminal Court, March 30, 1996, after being sentenced to death for the murder of Colleen A. Slemmer.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Pike was 18 when she killed fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville in January 1995.

Court records described a strained relationship between the two young women and said Pike believed Slemmer was interested in her boyfriend. Pike, Slemmer, Pike’s boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and another student left the Job Corps center together on January 12. Pike later returned without Slemmer and admitted her involvement in the killing.

Pike was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in March 1996.

Shipp was 17 at the time of the crime and therefore could not receive the death penalty under the law applicable to him.

Lawyers Point to Pike’s Childhood and Decades in Prison

Christa Gail Pike cries during a bid for a new trial while listening to a recording of herself confessing to killing Colleen Slemmer in 1995, in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, February 27, 2008.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Pike’s clemency petition focuses heavily on her childhood history, mental-health diagnosis and the roughly three decades she has spent incarcerated.

Her attorneys describe an extremely abusive upbringing and argue that circumstances from Pike’s early life were not adequately understood when she was sentenced. The petition also cites her bipolar disorder diagnosis, decades spent in solitary confinement and subsequent developments in research concerning adolescent brain development.

University of Tennessee forensic anthropologist Dr. Murray Marks testified about the wounds to Colleen A. Slemmer’s skull during Christa Gail Pike’s murder trial in Knox County Criminal Court on March 25, 1996.USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Pike has described the approaching execution date as psychologically overwhelming, saying she struggles to sleep and experiences recurring nightmares as September 30 draws closer.

For now, her attorneys are still waiting to learn whether the governor will grant clemency.

If there is no intervention, Pike’s execution remains scheduled for September 30 — more than three decades after the killing that put her on Tennessee’s death row.