Why Is This Woman's Execution Stirring So Much Emotion Across America?

The execution date for a death row inmate set to become the first woman killed by a US state in 200 years has been set. Christa Gail Pike, the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row, is due to be executed on September 30, 2026. The 50-year-old was sentenced to death in 1996 after she, her boyfriend Tiddell Shipp, and friend Shadolla Peterson were convicted of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in a case that became known locally as the "Job Corps Murder". Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, was convicted in the 1995 death of student Colleen Slemmer, 19. Credit: the Tennessee Department of Correction Pike and Slemmer were both enrolled in a Knoxville job-training program for troubled teens. Prosecutors argued Pike believed Slemmer was trying to steal her boyfriend. According to court filings and trial testimony, Pike struck Slemmer with a piece of asphalt before dragging her into nearby woods, torturing her and slitting her throat with a box cutter. She was also accused of keeping a piece of Slemmer's skull as a souvenir following the killing. Nearly three decades later, Pike remains on death row. Lawsuit challenges lethal injection protocol In January, Pike filed a lawsuit against Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, and the wardens of Riverbend Maximum Security Prison and Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. Her legal challenge centers on Tennessee's revised execution protocol, introduced in December 2024, which replaced the previous three-drug cocktail with a single dose of pentobarbital to induce respiratory and cardiac arrest, per Nashville Banner . Pike claims the method is unconstitutional and especially dangerous because of what court filings describe as her "unique medical conditions." According to the filing, lethal injection can trigger flash pulmonary edema, a condition that may create the sensation of drowning. Her attorneys say Pike suffers from thrombocytopenia, a blood disorder, as well as bipolar disorder, PTSD, and veins that make needle insertion difficult. Her attorneys argue pentobarbital could trigger an especially severe reaction. The lawsuit alleges: "This is death by drowning on one's own blood," adding that the execution method is "very likely to result in unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace in violation of the United States Constitution and the Tennessee Constitution." Pike has filed a lawsuit against the state ahead of her execution. Credit: Tennessee Department of Corrections Attorneys cite concerns over executions Pike's legal team also argues the state's execution process lacks transparency. According to the lawsuit, Tennessee's protocol is "plagued with the same issues that have marked botched executions for decades: secrecy, intentional omission, inattention to detail, and untrained and unlicensed prison personnel attempting to fill a medical role." The filing also states that the state should have procedures in place to provide life-saving medical treatment if death has not occurred within five minutes. The challenge comes less than a year after Tennessee executed Byron Black in August 2025. Black, who had an implanted defibrillator, also challenged the state's execution protocol before his death. Witnesses reported hearing him groan: "Oh, it's hurting so bad." His attorney later claimed Black had been "tortured" during the execution. Religious objections Pike's lawsuit also claims that the execution protocol infringes on her religious rights. The filing declares that the inmate is a practicing Buddhist, and the state's alternative-method requirement "violates her rights to conscience and/or to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment". The lawsuit further states that proposing another method of execution conflicts with her "sincerely held religious beliefs against participating in any process leading to her own death". In addition to this, the filing claims restrictions on spiritual advisers during executions interfere with her ability to practice her religion. While Pike's legal challenge continues, Slemmer's family has maintained that the death sentence should be carried out. Her mother, May Martinez, has repeatedly said she wants justice for her daughter and hopes no other parent has to endure the pain her family has experienced. "Justice has to serve. It cannot go on like this," she said . "I’m just hoping Tennessee does what they’re supposed to do. "To keep fighting for their child if it happens and see justice for Christa Pike to be put to death. To finally stop this so no other parent has to feel this pain and hurt everyday like I do cause everyday, birthdays, anything, it’s hard to deal with. It really is," Martinez added. Featured image credit: the Tennessee Department of Correction