convicted of trying to strangle an inmate in prison.
For the better part of thirty years, Pike’s case has been mired in the appeals process, but according to court documents filed on September 30, the State of Tennessee has requested an execution date for Pike, now 49. That date has been set for September 30, 2026.
“Christa’s childhood was fraught with years of physical and sexual abuse and neglect,” the 49-year-old’s defense team said, via CBS News.
“With time and treatment, she has become a thoughtful woman with deep remorse for her crime.”
If and when her sentence is carried out, Pike will become the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1820, and only the fourth in the state’s history.
According to The Death Penalty Information Center, the last recorded execution involving a woman in Tennessee was carried out in 1820, when Martin Eve was hanged for being an accessory to murder.
In May 2022 Tennessee paused the death penalty after Governor Bill Lee called for an independent review into the proper testing of lethal injection drugs. A revised lethal injection protocol was implemented, with executions resuming in May 2025.
