Christa Pike is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on September 30. As her execution date approaches, her defense attorneys and dozens of women's advocacy organizations are presenting a novel legal argument to spare her life. They contend that the physical mechanics of her execution will force Pike, a survivor of severe childhood sexual abuse, to relive her past traumas, effectively causing her to experience her death as another rape.
The basis of this argument is Pike's uniquely traumatic childhood, a point of fact that both prosecutors and defense attorneys do not dispute. According to court records, Pike was first sexually abused before she even reached preschool, targeted for years by her grandmother's boyfriend. At the age of 11, she was raped by a neighbor, an attack that caused an infection and preceded a suicide attempt when she was 12. At age 17, a stranger forced her into the woods and raped her.
Because of these repeated assaults, sexual abuse experts and advocacy groups argue that the physical reality of the execution process will trigger severe, visceral flashbacks. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the Tennessee Supreme Court on September 10, a dozen organizations—including the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, Rights4Girls, and the Survivors Justice Project—warned that strapping Pike's head, arms, and legs to a gurney while a male doctor administers a lethal injection, potentially near her groin, will deeply re-traumatize her.
"She will relive the sounds, the smells, and the pain," the advocacy groups wrote in their filing. They stated that she will feel the trauma now just as she did during her assaults, adding that there is "very little doubt that Christa Pike will go to her death believing and feeling that she is being raped yet again." They argue that this intense, relived trauma constitutes unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
Pike, now 50, is facing the death penalty for the brutal January 12, 1995, murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she viewed as a romantic rival. Pike is currently the only woman on Tennessee's death row and one of just 45 nationwide. Over the last 50 years, only 18 women have been executed in the United States. If her sentence is carried out, Pike will be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries.
While the Tennessee Attorney General's Office does not dispute Pike's history of sexual violence or her diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the state maintains that her death sentence is a just punishment that must be carried out. During a recent court hearing, William Ayers, an attorney representing the state, argued that the law does not promise a completely painless death. "The standard is not a painless execution," Ayers said, adding that "psychological harm alone is not a violation."
Prosecutors have also emphasized the extreme brutality of Slemmer's murder to justify the death sentence. In 1995, the 18-year-old Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and another young woman lured Slemmer to an isolated wooded area in Knoxville. According to court documents filed by the state, Pike kneed Slemmer in the head, threw her to the ground, and repeatedly kicked her. When Slemmer tried to escape, Pike sliced her stomach with a box cutter.
As Slemmer begged for her life, Pike continued to kick her in the face and eventually cut her throat. When Slemmer made a final attempt to run, Pike smashed the back of her head with a rock. Shipp, who was 17 at the time, carved a pentagram into Slemmer's chest. Pike later showed off a piece of Slemmer's skull to a friend. Because Shipp was a minor, he was ineligible for the death penalty and received a life sentence, while Pike was sentenced to death.
For Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, the execution represents a long-awaited justice that will allow her daughter to finally rest. Martinez told a local television station in 2021 that not a day goes by without her thinking about Colleen, how she died, and how terrifying her final moments must have been. Martinez plans to attend the execution and hold up a photograph of Colleen to remind Pike of what she did, noting that neither Pike nor her family has ever apologized. She remembers her daughter as a playful and compassionate young woman who loved roller skating, computers, and playing old games with her family. Martinez lamented that Colleen has been overshadowed by Pike over the years, stating, "It's never about the victims. It's like Colleen was never there."
In their filings, advocates argue that the flashbacks experienced by survivors of extreme and prolonged sexual assault are powerful, physical realities, rather than purely psychological phenomena. They noted that the myth of such trauma being "all in their head" dates back to the mid-19th century, when women experiencing flashbacks were diagnosed with "hysteria" and dismissed as malingerers. Today, Pike still struggles with basic daily tasks, such as brushing her teeth, because they can trigger flashbacks of the abuse she suffered as a toddler. The groups urged Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute Pike's sentence to life in prison, emphasizing that she was forced to cope with her childhood trauma virtually alone, without any of the victim support services vital to recovery. Governor's spokeswoman Elizabeth Johnson has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
While the experts clarify that Pike's abusive past does not excuse the murder, they argue it provides essential context. "No dispassionate observer could look at the circumstances of Christa’s life, including her age at the time of the crime and her mental illness, and believe that she is among the most depraved and irredeemable offenders for whom the death penalty is traditionally reserved," they say. "Indeed, her execution would shock the sensibilities of most people who were familiar with the facts of her life." Her attorneys additionally argued to the Tennessee Supreme Court on September 22 that executing her would represent a form of gender-based violence prohibited by international law, pointing out that the systems failed her precisely because she was a young female victim of abuse.
The legal battle over Pike's trauma culminated in a three-day hearing in a Knoxville courtroom. A clinical psychologist and trauma expert, Bethany Brand, testified that being strapped to a gurney by guards and placed on "death watch"—a highly monitored two-week period designed to prevent suicide—would be extremely triggering for Pike. However, Brand's assessment also noted that Pike has matured, learned to process her trauma, and is a different person today than she was at age 18. Assistant Attorney General David Wickenheiser highlighted this finding during the hearing.
The state fell short of guaranteeing that all four guards strapping her down would be female, but prosecutors stated they would make efforts to keep men away from Pike. Senior Judge Mark Ward, the special master appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court who presided over the hearing, ultimately concluded that Pike failed to show her history of sexual assault and PTSD would make it likely that she will experience needless suffering. He found that the Tennessee Department of Corrections has minimized the potential for triggering by arranging measures such as female staff and a privacy screen for Pike to use while showering or using the restroom.
Following these findings, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on September 23 that Pike is not entitled to a stay of execution based on her history of sexual abuse. Despite this setback, Pike's legal team vowed to continue their fight. They announced plans to seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court while continuing to petition Governor Lee to commute her sentence to life without parole.
In her clemency petition, Pike expressed deep remorse for Slemmer's death, describing her teenage self as a mentally ill, reckless child who made a horrific, life-ruining mistake. Now 50, Pike takes mood-stabilizing medications for bipolar disorder and PTSD, participates in therapy, paints, and helps newly arrived women adjust to prison life. Her attorneys argue that her 18-year-old brain was highly impulsive and emotional, making her death sentence unusually harsh. They noted that out of more than 200 people sentenced to death in Tennessee over the last 50 years, only seven others were 18 at the time of their crimes, and all of those sentences have since been vacated.
Contributing: Keith Sharon, Nashville Tennessean
"Think back to the worst mistake you made as a reckless teenager. Well, mine happened to be huge, unforgettable and ruined countless lives," she recently wrote in a clemency petition. "I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. … I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime."
Further, they argue that a brain at 18 years old is "less mature, more impulsive and emotional, more susceptibleto peer pressure, and less able to make rational decisions." They point out that it's unusual for Tennessee to execute anyone who was so young when they committed murder.
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Md. Kazi Bijoy is a dedicated tech enthusiast and content creator with a passion for digital innovation. With years of experience in the tech industry, he specializes in breaking down complex topics into easy-to-understand guides. When he isn’t writing, he explores the latest gadgets and researches emerging trends in the digital world.