Christa Pike, scheduled to be executed by the state of Tennessee on 30 September, has said she feels a unique connection to Lindsay Clancy, tying their two cases together over what she describes as shared female issues.
Background on her case
Pike, 50, has been on death row for around 30 years following her conviction for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. On 12 January 1995, Pike, her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, and a friend, Shadolla Peterson, lured Slemmer to a secluded area of the University of Tennessee's agricultural campus, where she was beaten and cut with a box cutter and a miniature meat cleaver over 30 to 45 minutes, with a pentagram carved into her chest. Prosecutors argued Pike believed Slemmer was pursuing her boyfriend.
Why she feels connected to Clancy
Speaking to The Times, Pike said: "We are both females who got into trouble because of uniquely female issues." Clancy admitted to killing her three young children but argued she was not criminally responsible due to postpartum psychosis at the time. Her trial ended in a hung jury, and she is currently awaiting a hearing to determine whether she'll face a retrial. Pike said she believes her own case might have unfolded differently if tried under today's standards, noting: "One thing [that] is different, however, is that times have changed a lot on awareness of women's issues since I was put on trial." She said she was "pleased" Clancy was receiving the psychiatric support she needed, adding: "There are so [many] women who don't get the help they need: me and others." Reflecting on her own sentencing, she said: "I was a mentally ill 18-year-old girl who committed a crime with two other individuals and I was the only one to receive this sentence. Now they want to torture me to death, after I've done the work to make myself mentally well."
Her requests ahead of execution
Pike's attorneys have requested an all-female execution team, arguing that being restrained by men could retraumatise her given her alleged history of sexual abuse. Should that request be denied, she has reportedly asked to be executed by hanging instead.
