A few days ago I wrote about the Lindsay Clancy trial surrounding the murders of her three young children in 2023. Her trial ended after the jury could not agree on whether Lindsay was legally responsible for the children’s deaths due to concerns about her sanity at the time. For the time being she is in a state-run psychiatric facility in Massachusetts until prosecutors decide whether to retry her.
This idea of whether people should be held responsible for their crimes when they are in the midst of some sort of psychosis really gnaws at me…today especially so. Because today Christa Pike, a 50-year-old Tennessee woman, was scheduled to be executed at 10am local time. Had the execution taken place, Christa would have been the first woman executed in the state in 200 years.
My heart would have broken had Christa been executed. Not because she didn’t murder Colleen Slemmer; she did, by her own admission and that of at least one eyewitness. And not because I disagree (or agree, for that matter) with the death penalty. I live in a state where the death penalty has been voted FOR, repeatedly, by a fairly wide majority, and I believe in the voice of the people to determine what goes on in their state. And one of the first things Gavin Newsom did upon entering office of governor in 2019 is place a moratorium on executions in California. He had no right to do that, in my opinion. A governor should uphold the laws within the state in which he serves.
Enough of that. Before California’s moratorium, I would ring a bell and pray on the day when someone within the state was executed. No matter what they’ve done, I believe each person on earth is made in God’s image and is loved by God, and is worthy of remembrance and prayer when their life is about to be taken from them. A lot can happen between a soul and God in the moments preceding death, so I pray. I have no idea whether my prayers make any difference in that person’s life right then. But regardless, it’s good for me to remind myself that human life is precious, and those prayers do inform and shape my own heart’s character.
As I said, Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed today at 10am local time in Nashville, 8am my time in California. I planned to ring a bell for her today if need be, and was so relieved to learn early this morning that her execution had been stayed by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. I feel relived because I am certain that had her 1996 trial taken place in 2026, like Lindsay Clancy’s, the quick conviction and death penalty sentence would not have come about so easily or swiftly.
Yes, my heart would have broken had Christa been executed. That’s because people’s understanding of mental illness as a real, detrimental brain condition that affects reasoning and judgment has matured over the past thirty years and there is now a legitimate concern whether mentally ill people are “in their right mind,” able to make clear-headed moral decisions, when they commit crimes, especially heinous crimes.
Christa Pike’s family and friends all testified during her 1996 trial to the serious neglect and sexual abuse she had been subjected to on an ongoing basis beginning at a young age. I can hear the rebuttal: millions of Americans over the years have been the victim of horrible neglect and abuse, and the vast majority of those individuals do not go out and commit crimes.
I know this, and I absolutely do not condone mental illness—including temporary insanity—as a routine defense for misdemeanors or felonies. But when the death penalty is brought to the table, we need to be absolutely certain that the defendant knew the difference between right and wrong when the crime was committed. If not, then another punishment might be more appropriate.
And that’s what the stay of execution is aimed at addressing, whether or not Pike’s past history of neglect and abuse, leading to mental illness, had been fully addressed during her trial. The day is not over, however, and under certain conditions the execution could still proceed prior to midnight Central Time. But it appears to be halted for the time being.
I was glad to put away my bell this morning. I don’t want someone who, by all accounts, suffered terribly to be held accountable by human hands for a crime she might not have had the wherewithal to resist. I know this adds to the burden of Colleen Slemmer’s family, who have expressed a desire for the execution to proceed. They, too, have suffered greatly. But I believe God Almighty is the final judge of all humankind, and He knows what is just and right for Christa and for Colleen’s family.
Postscript: In the evening of 9/30, Christa Pike’s execution was allowed to proceed. However the procedure was unsuccessful; she remains unconscious and is reportedly on a ventilator as of 5pm local time on Friday 10/2. Lord have mercy.
