Nashville, Tenn. (AP) – The Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday Set Execution Dates for Four People, Including the Only Woman in the State on Death.
Christa Pike Received the Death Sentions at Age 18 for the 1995 torture Slaying of Colleen Slemmer, who was a fellow knoxville nonb student. Slemmer, 18, was stabbed and beateen by points and tadaryl Shipp, pike’s boyfriend at the time, on the university of Tennessee’s Agricultural Campus.
They Carved a pentagram into Slemmer’s Chest, and Investigators CLAIMED Pike Took a Piece of the Victim’s Skull for a souvenir. Shipp, of Memphis, was sentiment to life in prison with the Possibility of Parole. Pike was Also convicted in 2004 for trying to strangle a fellow inmate durying a prison fight, which Added 25 years to her sentiment.
Pike’s attorneys previously Asked The State’s High Court to commute her sentiment Based on her and “Severe mental illness at the time of her crime.”
SUFFERED PIKE PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT AS A CHILD, ACCIVING TO HER ATTORNEYS. She also sufferered from bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders that were not diagnosed unil years after arrest.
“With Time and Treatment … Christa Has Become a Thoughtful Woman with Deep Remorse for Her Crime,” a wednesday staff from her attorneys reads.
Tennessee began a New Round of Executes in May after a three -ear pause Following the discovery that the states was not properly testing Letal Injection Drugs for Purity and Pottery.
An Independent Review Later found that none of the Drugs Prepared for the Seven Inmates Executed in Tennessee SINCE 2018 HAD been Fully Tested. The State Attorney General’s Office Also Concented in Court That Two of the People Most Responsesible for Oversseeing Tennessee’s Letal Injection Drugs ” Incorrectly Testified “Under oath that offizes were testing the chemicals as required.
Kelley Henry, A Federal Public Defender Who Represents Several Death Row Inmates, Said on Wednesday that the State Still Has Not Answered Many Questions About the Last Execution Where Black Black and “Hurting So Bad”. Black’s Autopsy Found Pulmonary Edema, A Condition of Fluid in the Lungs HIS SAID WAID FEEL LIKE DROWNING OR Suffacting.
“We will Continue to Fight to Bring the Truth of What Happened to Light before the Move Forward to Protect Our Clients from tortured the way Byron was,” Henry Said.
The Court on Tuesday Also Set Execution Dates for Tony Carruters, Gary Sutton and Anthony Hines.
Carruters were convicted in 1996 of Robbing and Killing Marcellos Anderson, 21, Frederick Tucker, 17, and Anderson’s Mother, Delois Anderson, 43, in 1994. Authorities Said Marcellos Anderson Was a Drug Dealer Neighborhood. Carrutrers were forces for the reprentation Himself at trial after repeatedly complaining about court-appointed attorneys and threatetening to harm several.
Hines was convinced of the fatal stabbing of Katherine Jean Jenkins, 54, A Motel Maid in Kingston Springs in 1985.
Sutton was Senttenced to Death for the 1992 Shotgun Slaying of Tommy Griffin, 24, AFTER HAD ALREADY BEEN CONVICATED OF THE MURDER OF GRIFFIN’S SISTER, Connie Branam, Whose Body Discovered in Her Burned Vehicle.
Sutton Continue to plead his innocence. A staff from his attorneys notes, “The scientific evidensce linking to the case is from Disgraced State Examinar Charlan who was late Stripped of his licensee.”
Griffin was sutton’s friend, and “there is no motif for the crime and no direct evidence linking to the wall,” accorting to the staff.
Harold Nichols64, is Also scheduled to be executted in tennessee by an order from Earlier this year. Nichols were convicted of the RAPE and First-Degree Felony Murder in the 1988 Death of Karen Pulley in Hamilton County.
The Execution of Donald Middlebrooks is stayed pending the resolution of a federal case case Challenging Tennessee’s Execution protocols.
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Associated Press Writer Jonathan Mattise Contributed to this Report.