Tennessee to execute woman for first time in 200 years

The US state of **Tennessee **is set on Wednesday to execute a **woman **for the first time in 200 years, three decades after she murdered a classmate.

Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job training camp for young people.

Shipp, only 17 at the time of the killing, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.

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Gained national attention

The killing gained national attention after Slemmer’s body was found with a pentagram, often seen as a satanic symbol, carved in her chest.

Pike will be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in more than 200 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In the United States, only 18 women have been executed since 1976, the Center says.

Historical records show the first woman to be executed in Tennessee was Mary Holcomb, a Black woman who was hanged in 1807. She was charged with murder. No further personal details, family background or personal history were preserved in public archives.

After Holcomb there were two other Black women, whose names were not published in the public record. One woman died by hanging in 1808 and the other in 1819.

Sparked debate

The case of Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row, has sparked debate over capital punishment for young criminals.

Pike’s lawyers argued she should be granted clemency due to her young age and mental health issues at the time of the killing.

“She was 18 when she committed her crime, and she was deeply mentally ill,” they wrote in a clemency petition to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, who said he would not intervene.

The US Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday a last-minute application for a stay of execution, which had argued that Pike’s history of sexual assault, post-traumatic stress disorder and a blood condition meant the lethal injection would cause her “needless suffering”.

Lethal injection

Pike is set to die by lethal injection at 10:00 local time (17:00 SA time) on Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

The United Nations urged the US government and Tennessee authorities to “immediately halt” the execution and commute her death sentence.

“Pike’s execution would mark the culmination of a trajectory of severe physical and psychological suffering marked by childhood abuse and nearly three decades of solitary confinement on death row,” it said.

By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse