Christa Pike scheduled execution: Will Tennessee woman convicted of 1996 murder of classmate, Colleen Slemmer be spared ‘lethal injection’ execution scheduled for September 30th? Why her lawyers, Kelly Gleason and Stephen Ferrell believe condemned woman has a legitimate case and should be spared, and instead re-instate original offer of life without parole.
A Tennessee woman who was offered a plea deal following the slaying of a classmate in 1996 is just days away from being executed. The execution by lethal injection– would mark the first execution of a female in that state’s history in 200 years.
Christa Gail Pike was just 18-years-old in 1995 when she and two fellow Job Corps students, including her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, lured 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer into the woods near the University of Tennessee and killed her in an attack that made national headlines. Pike confessed to the slaying and was sentenced to death; Shipp, who was 17 at the time, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole according to NBC News.
Under Tennessee law, Pike’s ‘teen’ co-conspirator was barred from execution because he had not yet turned 18.
226 page filed clemency bid seeking to stay scheduled Sept 30 execution
The pending execution has since led to the condemned woman’s lawyers, Kelly Gleason and Stephen Ferrell speaking out, alleging that the courts were never fully presented Pike’s entire circumstances, including childhood trauma leading up to the slayings. The lawyers are now pleading their case as they petition for a last minute clemency by that state’s Governor, Bill Lee.
In their 226 page filed clemency bid, the lawyers document abuse, including sexual assault, Pike is alleged to have suffered at the hands of men as a young girl, including when she was just two years old.
The petition relies on the horrific abuse she suffered, her diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and her 30 years served so far in solitary confinement as reasons enough for clemency.
Has Tennessee woman demonstrated legitimate reason to stop forthcoming execution?
In an episode of Criminally Obsessed, the lawyers detail a life-without-parole plea offer prosecutors extended just before trial, which they claim Pike’s original attorneys spent only ninety minutes discussing with her before the offer being rescinded. The lawyers allege Pike never being told about the plea deal nor advised to take it.
Gleason and Ferrell believe Pike’s age and immaturity at the time of the crime should matter under the law, as they fight to have Pike’s impending September 30th execution stayed. To date, Governor Bill Lee has not signed paperwork that would avoid Pike’s execution.
According to Tennessee lawmakers, Pike has not yet demonstrated a legitimate reason to stop the forthcoming execution.
‘It was Ms Pike’s burden to come forth with scientific evidence (to overturn execution); she has completely failed to do that.’
In the event that she is not spared from execution, Pike has made a special request. She wants an all-female execution squad to carry out the procedure in front of witnesses, including the family of her victim.
The case has thrown into question Tennessee’s and other state’s use of capital punishment, the ethical dilemma surrounding putting another person to death in the event of conviction for murder and whether mitigating circumstances, including childhood trauma and legal procedure ought to be argued as a legitimate reason for clemency.
Reflected Sandra Babcock, faculty director and founder of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide: ‘It’s not to erase the suffering of either Colleen Slemmer or Christa Pike. It is to recognize that Christa, in addition to being a perpetrator, was herself a victim.’
Related posts:
