Tennessee Set to Execute First Woman in Over 200 Years as Christa Pike Requests Firing Squad Over Lethal Injection

Tennessee is preparing to carry out its first execution of a woman in more than two centuries after the United States Supreme Court declined a last-ditch effort to stop it. Christa Pike, now 50, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, according to Al Jazeera. Her case has drawn international attention not only because of the rarity of executing women in the United States, but also because of her unusual request regarding the method of her death.

Pike was convicted of the brutal torture and murder of a classmate more than three decades ago, a crime committed when she was just 18 years old. The details of the case, which shocked the Knoxville community in the mid-1990s, continue to frame the debate over her fate. According to reports cited by Al Jazeera, Pike has asked to be executed by an all-female firing squad rather than by lethal injection—a request that Tennessee law does not currently permit.

The conviction stems from events in January 1995, when Pike, her then-17-year-old boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into a wooded area. All four were students at a Job Corps vocational centre in Knoxville. There, Slemmer was tortured and killed. The case garnered enormous public interest after it emerged that a pentagram had been carved into Slemmer's chest—an act Shipp later admitted to. Pike kept a piece of the victim's skull.

Both Pike and Shipp confessed and were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996. Pike received a death sentence, while Shipp was given life with the possibility of parole. Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has publicly expressed support for the execution proceeding. In their clemency petition, Pike's lawyers described her as "a 50-year-old remorseful woman who understands her actions."

The central issue now is not only whether Pike should be executed, but how. Her legal team and trauma experts argue that lethal injection could force her to relive severe childhood abuse. Her clemency petition documents a history of violence, neglect and sexual abuse, including rapes at ages 11 and 17, as well as diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Experts in sexual violence and trauma contend that the procedures surrounding lethal injection would likely trigger intense flashbacks of that abuse.

Pike's lawyers also maintain that she has small veins and a blood condition that could complicate the placement of an IV line—a claim the state disputes. Their concern is not hypothetical: in May, Tennessee prison officials abandoned the execution of another inmate, Tony Carruthers, after failing to find a suitable vein. According to The New York Post, Pike's legal team also said she fears a painful death by lethal injection and that she wishes to be shot by an all-female firing squad, with members of Slemmer's family among the witnesses.

Tennessee is not among the five states that authorise the firing squad as a method of execution. In court in August, Pike's lawyers proposed hanging instead, noting that it was the method Tennessee last used to execute a woman. The state opposed that request, arguing that Tennessee possesses neither the equipment nor the legal authority to carry out a hanging. The judge sided with the state but allowed for the possibility of an all-female execution team.

Tennessee does permit prisoners whose crimes predate January 1999 to choose the electric chair. Pike's crime took place in 1995, potentially making her eligible for that option, though her legal team has pursued other alternatives. The dispute over method has become a rare public window into the practical and legal complications that can arise in modern executions.

Beyond the question of method, Pike's lawyers argue that she should not be executed at all. Her petition asks the governor to commute her sentence to life without parole. It points to evidence that her mother drank heavily during pregnancy, impairing Pike's brain development and her impulse control. "The 18-year-old girl suffering from severe mental illness and near-debilitating trauma no longer exists," her lawyers wrote in the petition.

If the execution goes ahead, Pike would be the only person in modern-era Tennessee to be put to death for a crime committed as a teenager. Her lawyer, Stephen Ferrell, has said that scientists now understand far more about adolescent brain development and that her sentence was an outlier. Governor Bill Lee has denied clemency, however. A group of United Nations human rights experts has called for her sentence to be commuted.

The rarity of the case reflects a broader pattern in the United States. Women account for just 18 of the 1,683 people executed since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976—slightly more than 1 percent. That statistic underscores how unusual Pike's scheduled execution is, and why it has attracted attention from human rights advocates and legal observers far beyond Tennessee.

The case also highlights ongoing debates about capital punishment and trauma. Pike's clemency petition draws a direct line between her childhood abuse and mental illness and the crime she committed as a teenager. Her lawyers argue that executing someone whose brain was not fully developed—and who suffered severe trauma—raises profound moral and legal questions. The state, by contrast, has maintained that the sentence was lawfully imposed and should be carried out.

As the execution date approaches, the legal options for Pike appear to be narrowing. The Supreme Court's rejection of a last-minute bid to halt the execution clears the way for Tennessee to proceed. Barring further intervention, Pike is set to become the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years—a milestone that will likely intensify the national conversation about the death penalty, gender, and the limits of retribution.