Christa Pike, 50, has drawn a parallel between her own capital case and that of Lindsay Clancy, citing what she calls “uniquely female issues” that she believes connect the two women.
Pike, who is scheduled for execution in Tennessee on September 30, spoke in the days before she is set to become the first woman put to death in the state in more than 200 years. During that interview, she claimed that modern awareness of women’s issues might have altered the outcome of her 1995 trial.
“We are both females who got into trouble because of uniquely female issues,” she said.
Pike continued: “One thing [that] is different, however, is that times have changed a lot on awareness of women’s issues since I was put on trial.”
The comparison centers on Clancy, who admitted to killing her three young children but argued she was not criminally responsible due to postpartum psychosis. Clancy’s murder trial ended with a hung jury, and she now awaits a hearing that will determine whether prosecutors can retry her.
Pike noted that she was “pleased” Clancy was receiving help, adding: “There are so any women who don’t get the help they need: me and others.”
Pike’s own case dates back to January 12, 1995, when she was an 18-year-old student at the University of Tennessee. Prosecutors argued that Pike believed fellow student Colleen Slemmer, 19, was interested in her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Pike, Shipp, and a friend named Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to a secluded area of the university’s agricultural campus. There, they attacked her in an assault that lasted 30 to 45 minutes, involving beatings and cutting with a box cutter and miniature meat cleaver. A pentagram was carved into Slemmer’s chest.
Pike was the only one of the three attackers to receive a death sentence.
“I was a mentally ill 18-year-old girl who committed a crime with two other individuals and I was the only one to receive this sentence,” she said in her recent interview. “Now they want to torture me to death, after I’ve done the work to make myself mentally well.”
Her attorneys have made multiple requests regarding the method of execution. They asked that an all-female team carry out the procedure, arguing that restraint by men could retraumatize Pike given her alleged history of sexual abuse. If that request is denied, she has asked to be hanged instead.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied a last-ditch bid for clemency in Pike’s case.
Pike has spent approximately three decades on death row since her conviction for Slemmer’s murder.
Clancy returned to court on Tuesday following the mistrial in her case.