Knoxville, TN (WOKI / WVLT) – A Tennessee judge has been appointed to review legal challenges to the planned execution of Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, less than two months before her scheduled execution date.
The Tennessee Supreme Court appointed Senior Judge Mark Ward to preside over a hearing scheduled for Aug. 11-14 in Knox County Criminal Court. The hearing will focus on whether Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol is constitutional as applied to Pike’s specific medical and mental health conditions.
Pike is scheduled to be executed Sept. 30 in Nashville. If carried out, the execution would be the first of a woman in Tennessee since 1819.
Pike’s attorneys filed a motion in June challenging the state’s lethal injection procedures following the failed execution attempt of death row inmate Tony Carruthers. The motion argues Tennessee’s protocol creates an unconstitutional risk of pain and suffering for Pike.
According to court filings, Judge Ward will consider claims related to Pike’s diagnosis of thrombocytosis, a blood disorder that her attorneys contend could complicate the execution process.
Defense attorneys have also raised concerns about Pike’s history of severe sexual abuse and trauma. They argue that procedures associated with the execution process, including her transport, restraint and placement under supervision by male correctional officers, would force her to relive traumatic experiences from her childhood.
“We are pleased that the Tennessee Supreme Court recognizes and is taking seriously the problems we have identified with Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol as it applies to Christa’s specific mental and medical needs,” attorney Luke Ihnen said in a statement.
Ihnen said Pike endured extensive sexual violence and abuse by adult male authority figures during her childhood and argued that housing and monitoring arrangements connected to the execution process would be particularly harmful given that history.
Pike was convicted in the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike lured Slemmer to the University of Tennessee Agriculture campus, where she tortured and killed the 19-year-old after believing Slemmer was trying to take her boyfriend.
In January, Pike filed a separate lawsuit alleging Tennessee’s execution procedures violate her constitutional rights and religious beliefs. That case remains part of her broader effort to halt or delay the execution.
The August hearing is expected to determine whether Tennessee’s current lethal injection protocol can legally be used in Pike’s execution scheduled for Sept. 30.
