Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday that he expects Christa Pike’s death sentence to remain in place unless the courts decide otherwise, following the state’s unsuccessful attempt to execute her on Sept. 30. Pike, 50, has returned to prison after being hospitalized, and her attorneys are asking Lee to commute her sentence to life without parole.
Lee said Pike remains incarcerated under Tennessee law. “I suspect her sentence will be the same as it was before unless determined otherwise by the courts,” he said. His remarks came amid questions about whether Tennessee could make another attempt to execute her. After the failed lethal injection, Lee suspended the state’s remaining executions for the year and ordered an independent review.
Pike received two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt before being taken to a hospital. She was unconscious for days, and her lawyers at one point believed she was brain-dead and expected life support to be withdrawn. She subsequently regained consciousness and was discharged before returning to prison. Her attorneys have since reported that she can walk and speak in full sentences.
Pike was sentenced to death for killing Colleen Slemmer, 19, in 1995. Both were enrolled in a federal Job Corps program in Knoxville. Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith, who helped investigate the murder, recently discussed Pike’s behavior during questioning in the New York Post documentary “No Mercy: Christa Pike Unraveled.” He described her as remorseless and seemingly pleased as she recounted the crime.
“I heard somebody that was ruthless, without any remorse, almost giddy,” Keith said in the documentary. He said she appeared to be boasting about what happened. Keith later confirmed his account to Fox News Digital. He also recalled that Pike spoke openly about killing Slemmer after returning to Job Corps, then bragged again in class the following day and displayed blood on her shoes.
Pike was 18 when she was charged alongside her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, 17, and Shadolla Peterson, 19. Court records show that all four were Job Corps participants. The three took Slemmer to an isolated location on the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus. Her throat was repeatedly cut, her head was struck with a large piece of asphalt, and a pentagram was carved into her chest. Pike later confessed to her involvement, according to court records.
Keith said the scene’s brutality shocked even experienced homicide investigators. Pike was convicted and sentenced in 1996, and the Tennessee Supreme Court subsequently upheld her convictions and death sentence. The Sept. 30 execution attempt proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a last-minute stay granted by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Pike’s attorneys argue that she should not face another execution attempt. Their effort to obtain commutation began before September: In a 2021 filing with the Tennessee Supreme Court, they sought a certificate of commutation, citing her age when Slemmer was killed and her history of childhood trauma, mental illness and brain damage.
