Tennesse prepares for first woman’s execution in 200 years
September 29 2026
Christa Pike, who was 18 when she participated in the 1995 murder of fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer, is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, in what would be the state’s first execution of a woman in more than two centuries.
Pike, now 50, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to death for Slemmer’s killing. According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, Slemmer was a fellow Job Corps worker from Knoxville and the murder occurred on the University of Tennessee’s agricultural campus. Pike remains the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row.
The case has remained controversial throughout Pike’s three decades on death row.
Her attorneys have argued that her age at the time of the crime, history of severe childhood abuse and other circumstances should have been considered in determining her sentence. The defense has also raised arguments concerning adolescent brain development and mental-health issues.
The Tennessee Supreme Court formally set Pike’s execution date for September 30, 2026, after determining that there was no legal reason preventing the execution from proceeding.
On September 28, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee declined Pike’s request for clemency, leaving the death sentence in place. Her attorneys have continued seeking judicial intervention to halt the execution.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has also called on the United States to refrain from carrying out the execution, citing precautionary measures it previously issued in Pike’s case.
If carried out, Pike’s execution would mark Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in more than 200 years and would make her the first person executed by Tennessee in the modern death-penalty era for a crime committed at age 18, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Tennessee has selected representatives from several news organizations, including the Associated Press, to serve as official witnesses to the execution.
The case has therefore drawn renewed attention to the death penalty, the treatment of young offenders, and the circumstances surrounding crimes committed by people who were teenagers at the time.
