US Supreme Court denies Christa Pike's last‑ditch bid to halt execution

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to block the execution of Tenacious inmate Christa Pike on the eve of the scheduled lethal injection. Pike, 50, has been on death row since her 1996 conviction for the murder of her teenage classmate, Colleen Slemmer.

Pike’s lawyers filed a final petition ahead of the execution date, hoping for a last‑minute reprieve, but the high court ruled against them. With the decision, Pike will become the first woman to die in Tennessee’s electric chair since the 19th century.

On Monday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee denied Pike’s clemency request, stating he would not step in to prevent the execution. The governor’s refusal comes as the state’s death‑row statistics show only 18 women have been executed in the U.S. since the 1970s, compared with 1,663 men.

Pike was 18 when she and her then‑boyfriend beat, tortured and killed Slemmer, a 19‑year‑old student at a job‑training camp for troubled teens. The victim’s body was found with an inverted pentagram carved into her chest, a symbol associated with certain satanic groups, which has drawn media attention.

Defendants argue that an 18‑year‑old brain is not an adult brain and that Pike was too young to face the death penalty. At the time of her sentencing, she was the youngest person on death row in Tennessee.

Pike is set to be executed at 11:00 EDT (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. The decision marks a significant moment in the debate over capital punishment and the treatment of juvenile victims of the justice system.