Christa Pike will be executed in the next 72 hours but there are several legal matters that could stop it
Christa Pike has spent more than three decades on death row, but a scheduled execution date does not necessarily mean the convicted killer will ultimately be put to death.
The 50-year-old is now just three days away from the date Tennessee has set for her to die via lethal injection - 10am local time on 30 September.
If the execution goes ahead, Pike would become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.
But while preparations at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville are well underway, including the selection of official media witnesses, the date on the calendar is not necessarily the final word.
Advert
There are several different ways an execution can be delayed, stopped or replaced with another sentence, ranging from a governor's clemency decision to further court proceedings and emergency stays.
For Pike - who was sentenced to death at just 18 - some of those avenues have already been pursued and rejected, while others remain open.
What did Christa Pike do?
Troubled West Virginia teenager Pike was 18 when she took part in the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer on 12 January 1995.
The pair were students at the Knoxville Job Corps centre, where Pike had enrolled hoping to train as a nursing assistant. There, however, she'd met 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp, and the two began a relationship.
Over time, Pike became convinced Slemmer was interested in Shipp and, alongside Shipp and another student, 19-year-old Shadolla Peterson, lured Slemmer to an isolated area near the University of Tennessee's Agricultural campus.
Court testimony described a prolonged attack lasting around 30 minutes, during which Slemmer was beaten and stabbed.
Pike was also accused of carving a pentagram into Slemmer's chest and later showed another student a piece of the victim's skull, which ultimately helped lead to the trio's arrests.
She was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to death the following year, initially with electrocution specified as the method.
Meanwhile, Shipp, who was 17 when the murder happened, received life in prison with the possibility of parole, and Peterson testified against both of them and received probation.
Pike has remained on death row ever since.
Her lawyers have continued to challenge her sentence, while arguing that the jury that sentenced her to death did not hear the full extent of the abuse and trauma she had experienced as a child.
Now, with her execution date approaching, her legal team is pursuing several avenues at once.
What is in Pike's clemency petition?
One of the most significant developments is a 226-page clemency petition submitted to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, in which Pike's lawyers are asking him to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The petition presents extensive evidence about Pike's childhood, arguing that her actions at 18 cannot be separated from years of sexual abuse, rape, neglect and untreated mental health problems.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the petition says Pike was sexually assaulted repeatedly between the ages of two and five by her grandmother's boyfriend, raped by a neighbour at 11 and raped again by a stranger at 17.
Her lawyers also argue that warning signs of the abuse were present when she was a child, including a graphic drawing she made at school, but that the adults around her failed to properly investigate what was happening.
Pike was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and PTSD while incarcerated. Her lawyers argue that the full picture of her childhood trauma and its psychological consequences was not presented to the jury that decided she should die.
Importantly, the Death Penalty Information Center reports that Tennessee's lawyers have not disputed the core factual claims concerning the abuse described in the petition.
That does not mean the state has agreed with Pike's legal arguments about what those circumstances should mean for her sentence - rather, the factual history of the abuse is being presented as part of the clemency case.
The petition is therefore not asking for Pike to be released, but for her death sentence to be replaced with life without parole.
What role does Governor Bill Lee have?
Governor Bill Lee has the constitutional authority to grant clemency in Tennessee, meaning he can intervene in an individual's sentence.
In Pike's case, her lawyers are asking him specifically to commute her death sentence to life without the possibility of parole, which is different from the usual court appeal.
A court considers whether legal errors or constitutional violations mean a conviction or sentence should be overturned or changed, while clemency is an executive decision about whether a sentence should be reduced or otherwise altered.
The Tennessee Board of Parole can make recommendations on clemency matters, but the governor has the final authority.
That distinction is particularly relevant in Pike's case because Governor Lee has already made clemency decisions for other Tennessee prisoners this year, including last month, when he announced clemency decisions for 34 people.
He said at the time that the decisions had been made after reviewing the individual merits of each case and considering recommendations from the Board of Parole.
His office said people who had applied for clemency but were not included in that announcement remained eligible for clemency in the future.
Pike was not among those whose cases were announced at that time, with her clemency petition only having been filed on 3 September.
What ongoing legal proceedings could still affect Pike?
Clemency is not the only route still available.
Pike's lawyers have continued to pursue litigation surrounding her execution and sentence, including challenges concerning the method Tennessee plans to use to put her to death.
There have also been proceedings concerning Pike's post-conviction claims.
That matters because death penalty cases can continue generating litigation even after a death warrant or execution date has been set. A court can, in appropriate circumstances, issue an order preventing the execution while it considers a legal claim.
Pike's lawyers have argued that there are constitutional issues surrounding the planned execution and have sought further review of those issues.
What happened with the lethal-injection challenge?
This has been one of the most closely watched parts of Pike's legal battle.
Her lawyers challenged Tennessee's lethal-injection protocol, arguing that Pike's particular medical and psychological circumstances could expose her to an unconstitutional risk of pain or suffering.
Among the medical issues raised by her attorneys is essential thrombocytosis, a blood disorder associated with clotting and bleeding risks, alongside concerns about difficult-to-access veins.
They argued that those circumstances could make establishing the IV lines needed for lethal injection more complicated.
Her lawyers also raised psychological concerns linked to her history of childhood sexual abuse and PTSD, arguing that being restrained, handled and subjected to the procedures involved in an execution could trigger severe trauma.
The case received additional attention following Tennessee's failed attempt to execute death-row prisoner Tony Carruthers in May.
Officials established a primary IV line but were unable to establish the required backup line, and an attempt to place a central line was unsuccessful. The execution was halted and Governor Lee subsequently granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
Pike's lawyers have raised concerns about the qualifications of the doctor expected to oversee her execution, including whether he would be able to establish a central line if one became necessary.
Despite this, Special Master Ward rejected Pike's lethal-injection challenge last month.
What does a stay of execution actually mean?
A stay of execution is essentially a legal order preventing the state from carrying out an execution while a particular issue is being considered.
It does not necessarily mean that a conviction has been overturned or that a death sentence has been permanently cancelled.
Instead, it can pause the execution while a court considers an appeal, reviews new evidence or decides whether a particular legal claim has merit.
A stay can, therefore, be temporary and can come extremely late in the process.
That means an execution scheduled for 10am could still be halted shortly beforehand if a court issues an order preventing Tennessee from carrying it out.
There is no single court that automatically has to issue such a stay - the appropriate court depends on the legal claim being brought and where that claim sits within the appeals process.
In a capital case, emergency applications can potentially reach the highest courts in the country.
What happens if Governor Lee grants clemency?
If Governor Lee grants Pike clemency in the form requested by her lawyers, her death sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
That would mean Pike would no longer face execution on 30 September, and she'd remain incarcerated for the rest of her life, subject to the terms of the commuted sentence.
The governor could also grant a reprieve, which would delay an execution rather than permanently replace the sentence, but this wouldn't necessarily mean the death sentence has disappeared.
What happens if clemency is denied?
If Governor Lee declines to commute Pike's sentence, that would leave her death sentence in place.
It would not, however, automatically mean she must be executed immediately.
The scheduled date could still be affected by separate legal proceedings, including applications for a stay or other emergency relief.
If no court intervenes and no executive reprieve or commutation is granted, Tennessee's Department of Correction would continue preparations for the scheduled execution.
The state has already begun those preparations.
Tennessee announced in August that it was accepting applications from recognised news organisations for official media witnesses, and later selected witnesses for the execution date.
That shows the state is operationally preparing for the execution, but it does not itself determine whether every outstanding legal issue has been resolved.
Could international pressure stop the execution?
There has also been pressure from outside the US legal system.
On 18 September, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged the United States not to carry out Pike's execution.
The commission said Pike is the subject of precautionary measures it granted in 2020 and called for the death penalty not to be carried out while issues raised before the inter-American system remain under consideration.
Amnesty International has separately urged Governor Lee to stop the execution and grant clemency, pointing to Pike's childhood abuse and the circumstances surrounding her sentencing.
Those interventions are significant in terms of international scrutiny, but they are different from a US court issuing a binding stay.
An international body calling for an execution to be stopped does not, by itself, cancel Tennessee's execution warrant.
For now, however, Pike's date remains on the calendar.
Topics: True Crime, Crime, US News, Real Life
Rhianna Benson