Overview

• The court said Pike has completed the standard three-tier appeals process and rejected her bid for commutation.
• If carried out, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1819 and the 19th woman executed in the U.S. since 1976.
• Pike, sentenced at 18, was convicted in the 1995 torture killing of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, with court records describing a prolonged assault and a pentagram carved into the victim’s chest.
• Her lawyers cite youth, undiagnosed bipolar disorder and PTSD, and a history of abuse as mitigation and say she has shown deep remorse.
• Tennessee resumed executions in May after a three-year pause over drug-testing failures, and an independent review found chemicals since 2018 were not fully tested; the court also set dates for Tony Carruthers, Gary Sutton and Anthony Hines.