Christa Pike faces Tennessee execution as Governor Bill Lee weighs clemency
- Christa Gail Pike faces a scheduled execution time of 10 a.m.
- Pike's defense attorneys filed a clemency petition asking Governor Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole at a women's prison in Nashville.
- May Martinez, the mother of Colleen Slemmer, has awaited the execution for three decades and plans to observe it from a family viewing room at Riverbend Maximum Security...
Christa Gail Pike faces a scheduled execution time of 10 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2026, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee, as Governor Bill Lee weighs a pending clemency request. Pike, now 50 years old, was sentenced to death by a Knox County jury in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Legal Challenges and Clemency Appeal
Pike’s defense attorneys filed a clemency petition asking Governor Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole at a women’s prison in Nashville. According to attorney Kelly Gleason, defense filings argue that Pike endured a severe childhood marked by abuse, neglect, and sexual violation, and that her Knox County trial lawyers failed to adequately present evidence of her wrecked mental state and bipolar disorder.
“We call on the governor to consider the tragedy of Christa’s childhood and the way in which the adults and institutions charged with her care consistently failed to protect a vulnerable child,” Gleason said in a press release issued earlier in September 2026. “We respectfully urge Governor Lee show Christa mercy.”
The legal appeals follow decades of defeats in state and federal courts. Jurors in 1996 heard trial testimony regarding Pike’s abusive upbringing, including accounts from her aunt about living in squalor with dog feces on the floor, and testimony from her mother, Carissa Hansen, describing herself as a terrible mother. Testimony also indicated that Pike suffered from severe borderline personality disorder following the 1988 death of her paternal grandmother, Delpha Clark Pike.
The Victim’s Family and Advocacy Positions
May Martinez, the mother of Colleen Slemmer, has awaited the execution for three decades and plans to observe it from a family viewing room at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Slemmer would have turned 51 on Sept. 20, 2026. Martinez told regional reporters that public attention frequently centers on Pike, overshadowing her daughter.
It’s all about Christa. And when you forget about everything and not even remember the victim…that’s wrong.
Executive Director Robert Bracewell stated that the sentence was established by a jury of Pike’s peers.
We stand firm with the family that on the 30 September her execution ought to proceed.
Robert Bracewell
Perspectives From Reform Advocates
Ashlee Sellars, a justice reform advocate who met Pike while serving a 25-year sentence for a robbery-murder, manages conflicting views on the upcoming execution. Sellars and Pike communicated through door meal flaps in a high-security unit. Sellars points to trauma and mental health as central factors in youth violence.
When trying to make sense of the televised persona versus the awful tragedy involving Colleen, trauma, mental health, and how individuals process situations without adequate resources are the sole explanations that make sense to me. Severe adversity during early years carries forward through people within our community, ultimately leading them to inflict harm upon others.
People want to know that everyone’s life matters, right? They want to know that Colleen’s life mattered. Christa currently fights far harder to ensure her own existence holds significance than she does simply to stay alive.
Ashlee Sellars