What Did Christa Pike Do?
On January 13, 1995, a 19-year-old student’s body was found in a remote part of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus. She had been beaten, stabbed and a pentagram had been carved into her chest with a boxcutter. Three people were implicated in the crime: Pike, her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and their friend, Shadolla Peterson, who was with Pike and Shipp the night they killed Slemmer.
Though reporting has claimed Pike carved a pentagram into the student’s chest, Shipp testified under oath that it was he who committed the act. The crime took 30 minutes to an hour, Pike told authorities at the time.
Peterson became a witness for the state, testifying against Pike and pleading guilty to being an accessory. Peterson ended up receiving six years of probation, while Shipp was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Shipp was not eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the murder.
Pike was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder by a jury in 1996. She was sentenced to death and handed a consecutive 25 years in prison.
The jury said the aggravating circumstances of the crime—its heinousness beyond what is needed to “produce death” and that it was committed to prevent arrest or prosecution—outweighed the mitigating circumstances presented by her then legal team.
But according to a 226-page clemency petition filed by Pike’s present attorneys with the governor's office on September 2, 2026 and viewed by A&E Crime + Investigation, there was compelling mitigating evidence that attorneys failed to produce during her trial.
Christa Pike’s Case for Commutation
A member of her legal team tells A&E Crime + Investigation the jury heard nothing of Pike’s childhood sexual assault or rape, her post-traumatic stress disorder or bipolar disorder; they heard little about her neglect and emotional abuse and got no real information about her brain damage.
A neurologist examined an EEG from when Pike was 14 months old and an MRI post-trial, finding brain damage attributable to her mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy, the petition notes. A court appointed expert testified post-trial that the type of brain damage Pike had was associated with increased susceptibility to bipolar disorder. She was diagnosed with a seizure disorder at age 14 months but only formally diagnosed with bipolar disorder after her conviction, though she exhibited signs of it at age 13, the petition states.
Ohio and Kentucky banned the execution of people with severe mental illness, including bipolar disorder.
An evaluation of Pike post-trial revealed that she had been subjected to nine of 10 adverse childhood experiences, including physical and sexual assault and physical and emotional neglect. Her father beat her with a belt while she was naked from waist down as a child such that the neurologist could observe physical scars from the beatings after her conviction as an adult, according to her petition.
Pike was sexually assaulted and raped repeatedly as a child, the petition says, first as a toddler by her grandmother’s boyfriend, then as an 11 year-old where the perpetrator ultimately pled guilty to a lesser charge and a third time by a stranger at age 17.
“Research shows that at least 96% of women on death row experienced gender-based violence before incarceration, yet this history is often not considered at trial,” Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher tells A&E Crime + Investigation.
Pike’s legal team also says her sentence is disproportionate. While she faces death for the murder she committed at age 18, her equally culpable co-defendant, Shipp, went before a parole board in 2025 for the same murder he committed at age 17.
Modern adolescent brain development research says there is no difference between the brain of a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, Pike’s team member says.
There are also questions about the constitutionality of using Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol given Pike’s medical condition and history of sexual assault and rape, as the protocol would be medically dangerous and re-traumatize her. Pike has sued the state over the use of this protocol in her case, saying it would violate the U.S. and state constitutions and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
Tennessee had such serious problems with their lethal injection protocol a couple of years ago that the governor of Tennessee put a pause on executions and commissioned a study of what was happening in Tennessee, Amherst College professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science Austin Sarat tells A&E Crime + Investigation.
“The review, led by former U.S. Attorney Edward Stanton, found the state had repeatedly failed to follow its own execution protocols between 2018 and 2022,” Maher says. In May 2026, Tennessee botched another execution by lethal injection.
Christa Pike’s Isolation
In 2022, Pike sued the Tennessee Department of Corrections. The department didn’t allow people on death row to interact with other incarcerated people, so as the only woman on death row in the state, she was effectively living in isolation, Angela Bergman, an attorney who represented her in the suit, explains to A&E Crime + Investigation.
Her confinement led to weakening eyesight, chronic migraines and hypersensitivity to external stimuli, among other issues, Bergman says. It also worsened her bipolar disorder, depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, and she developed new conditions; this led to self-harm and repeated suicide attempts.
Pike settled with the state in 2024, leading to changes in her living situation, interactions with others and work and educational opportunities, Bergman says.
Christa Pike's Legal Appeals
Pike’s conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear it. In 1999, she filed a petition for post-conviction relief, which was also denied. But her legal fight continued.
She has also asked Gov. Bill Lee to have her sentence commuted to life in prison.
On September 23, the Tennessee Supreme Court decided not to halt Pike’s execution. "We will press forward, seeking relief from the U.S. Supreme Court while also continuing our request that Governor Lee grant Christa clemency," her attorneys said in a statement to A&E Crime + Investigation. "We remain hopeful that he will.”
Five days later, on September 28, Lee decided he would not grant Pike clemency. Her attorneys said in a statement to A&E Crime + Investigation that they are "deep saddened and heartbroken" by the decision.
"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. This decision also leaves unanswered vital questions about Tennessee’s execution protocol," Pike's attorneys stated. "We will continue to support Christa through every remaining avenue and advocate for a system that is transparent for the people of Tennessee."
On the morning of September 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit announced a stay order for Pike's execution until further notice. "The interests of justice and the finality of Pike’s impending execution compel the entry of a short stay of execution in order to properly analyze the parties’ fully briefed arguments and resolve the issues on the merits," Judge Jane B. Stranch wrote in the order obtained by A&E Crime + Investigation.
Christa Pike's Failed Execution
On the evening of September 30, the Supreme Court of the United States lifted the stay on Pike’s execution.
Later that night, following an unsuccessful execution attempt, her attorneys filed an emergency motion to halt and stay the execution with a Tennessee district court and Supreme Court, also requesting immediate medical care.
According to copies of the motions obtained by A&E Crime + Investigation, the Tennessee Department of Correction began Pike’s execution at around 8:00 p.m. local time. After two syringes of the lethal injection had been administered, Pike still had a heartbeat and was audibly snoring.
“[Pike] said that there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal,” a media witness said in a statement, “None of it was normal. I covered all the executions last year and most of the ones this year. We haven’t seen anything like it.”
Pike was heard saying her arm feels like it’s about to burst open, according to another media witness.
A member of her legal team, Randy Spivey, who was present at the September 30 execution attempt, said at a press conference that he counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, one of which appeared to be bent when pulled from her arm.
Around 30 minutes after witnesses reported that a second dose of the lethal injection had been administered, there was announcement for them to be escorted out of the viewing area.
According to Spivey, no one knows what happened in the execution chamber from about 8:25 p.m. to 8:50 p.m.
Pike’s attorneys told the Tennessee Supreme Court that the execution was causing Pike unnecessary agony and violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They requested the court stop the execution, have the IV catheters removed and immediately have the Department of Correction take all possible lifesaving measures.
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true,” her attorneys said in a statement. “Difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy.”
In a separate statement, Spivey said, “Christa has endured punishment greater than any other person in the history of the American death penalty. The governor must commute Christa’s sentence now."
Another member of Pike’s legal team, Luke P. Ihnen, said there is a possibility that the pentobarbital entered into Pike’s veins was degraded. The state of Tennessee refuses to provide any information about the pentobarbital it uses, including expiration dates, the legal team said.
Christa Pike Update
As of the afternoon of October 2, Pike was alive but unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator, according to her attorneys. She was being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt.
Governor Lee has suspended all executions in the state until the end of the year and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review” into what happened in Pike’s execution.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that they followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.
Also on October 2, Pike’s attorneys filed an emergency motion in Davidson County Chancery Court asking for the Department of Correction to preserve all evidence related to their failed attempt at executing Pike, they said in a statement. This would be essential to understanding what happened, allow for accountability and protect Pike’s legal rights, they added.
Frank Estrada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, resigned on October 3.
“The resignation of Commissioner Strada is justified, but it does nothing to help Christa now,” Pike’s attorneys said. “What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person.”
On October 6, Pike's legal team told A&E Crime + Investigation that Pike is conscious, speaking and continuing to receive critical medical care. Her legal team continues to ask Tennessee governor to commute Pike’s sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Two days later, Pike began "walking with some assistance," according to a press release from her attorneys, and her arms were "regaining movement and strength." She'd also started consuming a regular diet as of October 8. However, her attorneys stated she continues to "experience cognitive challenges with concentration and memory" and her doctors have "cautioned that it may take months to fully understand whether she sustained lasting cognitive injuries."
Pike was discharged from the hospital on October 10 and returned to Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center to continue her recovery.
