Justice has been a long time coming for the family of Colleen Slemmer. The U.S. Supreme Court has finally cleared the way for the state of Tennessee to carry out the death sentence of Christa Pike, who was convicted for her role in the horrific 1995 murder of the 19-year-old.
Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend kidnapped, beat, and tortured Slemmer at a job training camp. The brutal nature of the crime—which included carving a pentagram into the victim's chest—shocked the nation. For years, Pike has utilized the legal system to delay her punishment, even as she bragged about the murder to others at the time.
While liberal justices on the Supreme Court dissented, arguing for further delays, Justice Brett Kavanaugh correctly granted the state's application to vacate a last-minute stay issued by a lower appeals court. This decision upholds the rule of law and respects the victim's family, who have waited nearly thirty years to see justice served.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee also rightfully denied Pike’s clemency request earlier this week. As Colleen Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, has stated, the pain of losing her daughter has never faded, and the execution is a necessary conclusion to a decades-long pursuit of accountability for a remorseless killer.
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