Christa Pike was 18 when she killed a classmate in a jealous rage and became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row. Now 50, she is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday in what would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in 200 years.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at Knoxville Job Corps. Prosecutors said Pike feared Slemmer was a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded area where she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer. The case got widespread attention because of the brutality of the killing, the ages of the people involved and because a satanic symbol was carved into the victim’s body.

Pike does not deny her guilt, but her attorneys and supporters argue a death sentence is not appropriate for a crime committed at that age by a teen with untreated mental illness after a childhood of brutal sexual abuse and neglect. Slemmer’s mother wants the lethal injection to go forward, saying she has waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.

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[–] 17 points 2 days ago (3 children)

That's because death penalty is not about justice, is about revenge.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago (2 children)

    It can also be about "this person is too dangerous to contain."

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  • [–] 2 points 9 hours ago (1 child)

    If a state is not competent enough to contain a person in a metal box, they are definitely not competent enough to decide who lives and who dies. Especially when these people who are "too dangerous to contain" are often contained perfectly fine for decades prior to their murders.

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