Gov. Bill Lee says Christa Pike’s death sentence will likely remain in place despite Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her last month, even as the convicted killer’s attorneys push for clemency.
“I suspect her sentence will be the same as it was before unless determined otherwise by the courts,” Lee said Wednesday.
Pike, 50, survived Tennessee’s Sept. 30 lethal injection attempt after receiving two doses of pentobarbital. She was hospitalized, remained unconscious for days, and her attorneys at one point believed she was brain-dead. She later regained consciousness, was discharged, and returned to prison. Her attorneys say she can now walk and speak in full sentences.
The failed execution halted Tennessee’s remaining executions for the year, and Lee ordered an independent review of what went wrong. Pike’s attorneys are now calling on the governor to commute her death sentence to life without parole, arguing she should not face a second execution attempt. That push for commutation predates the botched procedure: in a 2021 filing with the Tennessee Supreme Court, her attorneys sought a certificate of commutation citing her age at the time of the murder, childhood trauma, mental illness and brain damage.
Fox News Digital reached out to Pike’s attorneys and the governor’s office for additional comment.
The Crime
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow participant with her in a federal Job Corps program in Knoxville. The Tennessee Supreme Court later affirmed the conviction and sentence.
Pike was 18 at the time of the killing. She, along with her 17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and 19-year-old Shadolla Peterson, were all charged in Slemmer’s death. Court records show the three lured Slemmer to a secluded spot on the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus, where her throat was cut multiple times, she was struck in the head with a large piece of asphalt, and a pentagram was carved into her chest. Pike later confessed to her role, according to court records.
Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith, who worked the investigation, described Pike’s demeanor during questioning in the New York Post documentary “No Mercy: Christa Pike Unraveled.”
“I heard somebody that was ruthless, without any remorse, almost giddy. You know, she was describing what took place, like, almost the sense that she was bragging about it.”
Keith confirmed the remarks to Fox News Digital, calling them “spot on,” and summed up Pike in two words: “Pure evil.”
He also recalled Pike bragging about the killing after returning to the Job Corps program.
“Pike, when she got back, you know, immediately had to express her joy with killing Colleen. And then the very next day in class, she bragged again, talking about how she killed Colleen. She showed her shoes that had blood on them.”
Keith said the brutality of the crime scene stunned even experienced homicide investigators. “I was accustomed to seeing that kind of gore, if you will. But the brutality was different,” he said. “You know, the visual scene of it, it was so shocking.”
Thirty years later, Tennessee attempted to carry out Pike’s sentence on Sept. 30 after the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a last-minute stay issued by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The execution attempt failed, leaving the state’s handling of capital punishment under new scrutiny while Pike remains behind bars.
