Death row inmate Christa Pike makes unusual last meal decision

With just hours left before her scheduled execution, death row inmate Christa Pike has made a surprising decision about her final meal.

For people sentenced to death, the final meal has long been one of the most talked-about traditions surrounding an execution.

Some inmates have requested simple comfort foods they grew up with, while others have used their final meal to make a statement. Over the years, requests have ranged from burgers and pizza to elaborate multi-course meals, and some have been surprisingly unusual.

The tradition has also sparked debate. Supporters say a final meal gives condemned prisoners one last personal choice before they die, while critics question whether someone facing execution should be given special treatment at all.

And then there are the inmates who choose not to eat at all.

That brings us to Christa Pike, who is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on September 30.

With her execution approaching, Pike was given the opportunity to choose a final meal. But her decision about what she wanted to eat has surprised many.

Pike was offered the chance to choose what would be her last meal, but she declined. The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed that Pike had chosen not to make a request, according to WJHL 11.

First Woman Executed by Tennessee in More Than 200 Years
The 50-year-old is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on September 30 at Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. If carried out, she will become the first woman executed by Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Pike has spent around 30 years on death row after being sentenced for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

In a recent letter, Pike said she had made peace with what was coming.

“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” she wrote. “I’m not afraid to die.”

Her final-meal decision comes as her remaining legal efforts have failed.

Pike’s attorneys have pointed to the abuse she experienced as a child while seeking clemency from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. But on Monday, Lee rejected the request and said he would not step in to stop the execution.

Before learning that her final appeal for clemency had been denied, Pike wrote in a letter to NBC News that she had made peace with whatever happened next.

“Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace,” she wrote.

Pike was only 18 when Slemmer was killed. The two were students at a Job Corps training center in Knoxville. Pike was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Her attorneys have argued that her age, severe childhood abuse, and mental-health history should have been considered when she was sentenced. Pike has also expressed remorse for taking Slemmer’s life, writing that it sickens her to think she was capable of committing the crime.

Slemmer’s family, meanwhile, has spent more than three decades living with the loss of a 19-year-old daughter, sister, and friend. Her mother, May Martinez, has said she supports the execution and plans to witness it.

Now, after nearly three decades behind bars, Pike is facing the final hours before the sentence imposed for a crime she committed as an 18-year-old.

Unlike many death-row inmates before her, she has chosen to face those final hours without selecting a last meal.