Tennessee expected to carry out first female death row execution in 200 years on Wednesday

Tennessee is scheduled to carry out its first execution of a female inmate on death row this week in over 200 years, after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to commute Christa Pike's sentence to life in prison.

Pike, who was convicted of the 1995 murder of her former classmate, Colleen Slemmer, is the only female inmate on death row in the conservative state and her execution through lethal injection on Wednesday would mark the first execution of a woman since at least 1820, according to CBS News. 

Court records note that Pike and Slemmer were students at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville when Pike, then 18, tortured and killed Slemmer slowly, which was allegedly over comments the 19-year-old Slemmer had made about her relationship. 

Pike's then-boyfriend and another friend helped carry out the attack and murder, but the boyfriend was sentenced to life in prison because he was just 17-years-old at the time, and the friend was given probation because she testified against Pike during the trial.

Court records from Pike's trial also showed that Slemmer was repeatedly beaten and cut with a meat cleaver and a box cutter over the course of 30 minutes to an hour, in a secluded section of the University of Tennessee's campus. 

Pike and her attorneys have asked Lee for clemency, noting her age at the time of the crime and untreated mental illness after a childhood of brutal sexual abuse and neglect, stating she would not be given the same sentence if the crime occurred today.

Pike's attorneys also cited their client's change and maturity over the past 20 years while she served her sentence on death row.

"The 18-year-old girl suffering from severe mental illness and near-debilitating trauma no longer exists," the attorneys said in a statement. "Christa is a 50-year-old remorseful woman who understands her actions, receives proper treatment for her mental illness, and provides for and guides fellow incarcerated women."

Pike said in a separate statement that she recognized the ramifications of her crime have been "huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives," but expressed remorse for the brutal killing.

"It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I'd done. Even more to accept how many lives I affected," she said. "I took the life of someone's child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime."

Pike's last hope to delay her execution now resides with the Supreme Court. Her attorneys have asked the high court to stay the execution, but the court has not weighed in on the case.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.