First woman to be executed in Tennessee in two centuries: Christa Pike's pardon denied

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee denied the clemency petition filed by the defense team of Christa Pike, an inmate sentenced to death in 1996 for a murder she committed a year earlier, in an effort to prevent her execution.

"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement reported by Fox 17.

The convicted woman's attorneys expressed their sadness over the Tennessee governor's refusal and argued that, at the time of the murder, their client was suffering from "a serious mental illness and nearly incapacitating trauma."

"We are deeply saddened and heartbroken by Governor Lee’s decision to deny clemency for Christa Pike. Christa is a 50-year-old remorseful woman who understands her actions, receives proper treatment for her mental illness and provides for and guides fellow incarcerated women," said the convicted woman's defense team.

To halt her execution by lethal injection—scheduled for this Wednesday— Pike will petition the Supreme Court for clemency.

If her request is denied, Pike will become the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in the last 200 years and the 19th woman nationwide to receive a lethal injection since 1976.

Pike was convicted three decades ago of torturing and murdering, along with her then-boyfriend, Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old student whom the couple met at a vocational training center, on Jan. 12, 1995.

During the trial, Pike, who was 18 at the time, testified that a fit of jealousy led her to commit the crime.