Judge upholds sentence for Christa Pike, only woman on death row in Tennessee, after denying motion to reopen case

Christa Pike will remain on death row after a Knox County judge this week denied her motion to reopen her appeal and reduce her sentence.

Pike, 47, is the only woman on death row in Tennessee and the last person sentenced to death in Tennessee that was 18 at the time of their crime.

Her attorneys argued that a recent Tennessee Supreme Court decision showed that age should be considered in sentencing, saying that "there is no hard line of maturity or difference between the brain development of a 17-year-old and 18-year-old."

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Scott Green disagreed. He wrote the decision attorneys cited applied only to juveniles, so Pike didn't establish that she was eligible to reopen her case.

Pike's legal team will appeal the decision, attorney Kelly Gleason told The Tennessean Wednesday morning.

In 1996, a jury convicted Pike of murder and sentenced her to death for the brutal killing of Colleen Slemmer, another student at the Knoxville Job Corps, a year before.

Prosecutors said Pike and two other young people tortured Slemmer, repeatedly beating her and cutting her with a knife. Pike left the scene with a part of Slemmer's skull, prosecutors said.

Neither of her co-defendants, who were 17, were sentenced to death.

Death row debate: Christa Pike, who would be first Tennessee woman executed in 200 years, moves to reopen appeal

Her attorneys, Gleason and Randy Spivey, argued that Pike was suffering from severe, untreated mental illness and intense trauma at the time of the crime.

“At the time of the crime nearly 30 years ago, Christa Pike was a teenager, just 18, with untreated severe mental illness and a history of severe, repeated physical and sexual abuse, violence, rape, and neglect that began when Christa was very young. Christa’s co-defendant, who was 17, will be eligible for parole soon. Yet Christa, who was just a few months older, may be executed," they said in a statement.

"There is no difference in the brain of an 18 year old and a 17 year old. The trial court’s order refers to Christa as an adult, but brain science tells us she was a child. Christa’s death sentence is arbitrary and she should not be executed."

In 2004, Pike was convicted of attempted murder while she was incarcerated. Prosecutors said that in 2001, Pike strangled Patricia Jones, another woman at the Tennessee Prison for Women, nearly killing her.

Pike would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has not set an execution date for Pike.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christ Pike remains only woman on Tennessee death row after appeal fails