Governor Lee will not grant clemency to Christa Gail Pike
- Governor Lee announced that he will not grant clemency to Christa Gail Pike.
- Pike’s legal team, consisting of attorneys Stephen Ferrell, Kelly Gleason, and Randy Spivey, filed a clemency petition earlier this month requesting that her death sentence be commuted to...
- With this decision, the State of Tennessee is ignoring what both science and our legal system have decided: an 18-year-old brain is not an adult brain, and 18...
Governor Lee announced that he will not grant clemency to Christa Gail Pike. Pike is scheduled to be executed on September 30 after years of failed appeals for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. Governor Lee stated that after a thorough review of the case, he has decided to uphold the sentence and will not intervene.
Legal Challenges Regarding Age and Execution Protocol
Pike’s legal team, consisting of attorneys Stephen Ferrell, Kelly Gleason, and Randy Spivey, filed a clemency petition earlier this month requesting that her death sentence be commuted to life in prison. The attorneys argued that proceeding with the execution places Tennessee “on singular footing”. They contend that Pike would be the first person the state “executes in the modern death penalty era who was a teenager at the time of the offence”.
With this decision, the State of Tennessee is ignoring what both science and our legal system have decided: an 18-year-old brain is not an adult brain, and 18 is too young to face execution.
Attorneys Stephen Ferrell, Kelly Gleason and Randy Spivey
Beyond the argument regarding age, her defense team stated that the governor’s decision “leaves unanswered vital questions about Tennessee’s execution protocol”. Pike has exhausted years of appeals leading up to the current execution date.
Background of the 1995 Case
The murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer created a media frenzy in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1995. Authorities discovered Slemmer with a pentagram carved into her chest, a symbol of Satanic ritual. Pike had accused Slemmer of insulting her and attempting to steal her boyfriend.
During the trial, two residents of the camp later testified that Pike bragged about the murder both before and after it occurred. Witnesses reported that she showed them a piece of the victim’s skull. Pike was convicted of first-degree murder a year later and sentenced to death. At the time of her incarceration, the 21-year-old was the youngest person on death row, according to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
Her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 at the time, received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Status of the Execution
Following the denial of her clemency request, the execution remains set for September 30. The mother of the victim, Colleen Slemmer, has maintained her position that the execution should proceed, stating that she wants the process to move forward so that her daughter “finally can be resting”.