Tennessee Woman Set for Execution Makes Unexpected Final Decision
Christa Pike, Tennessee’s only woman on death row, is facing execution on Wednesday morning after a last-minute decision by the 50-year-old drew attention ahead of her scheduled death.
Pike is due to be executed by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. If carried out, she would become the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.
As preparations continued, Tennessee corrections officials confirmed that Pike had made an unusual choice concerning the final hours before her execution. She has not requested a last meal.
Death row inmates are generally permitted to choose what they want to eat before an execution, but Pike has declined to make such a request.
Her execution follows a death sentence imposed for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who was killed after Pike, her then-boyfriend and another female friend lured her to an isolated area of the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.
Pike was 18 at the time of the killing. She was later given an additional 25-year sentence after being convicted of attempting to strangle fellow inmate Patricia Jones with a shoestring in 2001.
Her lawyers made a final attempt to stop the execution by seeking clemency from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, pointing to abuse Pike experienced during childhood.
Lee rejected the clemency request on Monday, leaving the execution scheduled to proceed.
Before receiving the governor’s decision, Pike told NBC News that she had made peace with the possibility of dying.
“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” she wrote. “I am not afraid to die. I’m only nervous about the process.”
Pike’s case has remained in the spotlight for years. In 2012, authorities also disrupted an alleged plan to help her escape from the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville.
The plan reportedly involved a corrections officer and a New Jersey personal trainer with whom Pike had been corresponding.
Ahead of her execution, Pike also spoke about Lindsay Clancy, saying she felt a connection with her because both cases involved women accused of serious crimes.
“We are both females who got into trouble because of uniquely female issues,” Pike told the Times of London.
Pike has argued that women facing severe psychological and personal difficulties do not always receive the help they need.
She has also asked Tennessee authorities to ensure that only women are involved in administering the lethal injection, saying the presence of men could cause her additional trauma.
Corrections officials have indicated that they may grant the request.
With the execution approaching, attention is now focused on Pike’s final hours and whether the state will carry out the sentence as scheduled.
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