Who is krista pike

Pike was 19 years old when she committed her crime and at the time of her incarceration, she was the youngest person on death row at age She was convicted of first-degree murder on January 12, and entered prison on March 30, Skip to Main Content. Go to TN. Print This Page. Go to Search.

Effective immediately, the number of visitors, by appointment only, allowed at all state facilities will increase from two to four, per offender. But only Pike was sentenced to death—Pike's then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp was 17 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He will be eligible for release in Shadolla Peterson, who was 19 at the time, pleaded guilty to being an accessory and received a six-year probation sentence. They cited Roper v Simmons, the landmark Supreme Court case that abolished the juvenile death penalty.

The court drew the line at 18, but Pike's attorneys said it should extend to year-olds as scientific research shows the brain isn't fully developed until after the age of Shipp was 17 years old at the time of Ms. Slemmer's death. Christa Pike was 18," they wrote. That difference cannot be equated with increased maturity or brain development. A jury condemned Pike in March Nine years later, the U. Supreme Court abolished the juvenile death penalty in the landmark case Roper v.

The court held that executing people who committed murder before they turned 18 violates the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment because they "cannot with reliability be classified among the worst offenders. The court cited three main differences between juveniles and adults: Juveniles lack maturity and responsibility; they are more vulnerable to negative influences; and their character is not fully formed.

The court drew the line at 18, but Pike's attorneys argue its logic should extend beyond that. They point to scientific research that the brain isn't fully developed until after age 20 and that there's no way to differentiate between the brains of young people. The lawyers paint Shipp — not Pike — as the ringleader of the group.

Shipp was violent and controlling, they write, while Pike was suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and brain damage after a childhood filled with sexual and physical abuse.

Her mother drank while she was in the womb, and she was twice raped as a child. Courts have shot down similar arguments in Pike's case before. In , defense lawyers argued that "immature, mentally ill, brain-damaged" year-olds should be exempted from the death penalty.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed, reasoning that juries already are allowed to consider a killer's youth and mental health in deciding whether to impose death.

Pike's lawyers contend the jury in her case didn't consider those factors because her attorneys at trial failed to present sufficient evidence. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed in , writing that "the jury heard a clear story: Pike's childhood and upbringing were very difficult and, in some ways, explained how she became a person capable of such a brutal murder. Pike's attorneys now are asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to recommend that Gov.