Christa Pike's execution was halted just one hour before it was scheduled to take place in Tennessee on Wednesday, after the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted an 11th-hour stay.
What happens next
The stay was issued by Judge Jane Stranch at around 8:17am, roughly an hour before Pike's scheduled 10am execution, stating: "It is ORDERED that execution of the sentence of death upon the movant is STAYED until further order of this court." The order followed Pike's request to reopen her earlier federal habeas case, arguing that Tennessee's recent acknowledgment of her documented history of sexual abuse undermines the factual basis used in her earlier legal proceedings. One judge on the panel dissented, arguing the filing should have been dismissed and the execution allowed to proceed.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has since filed an emergency appeal asking the US Supreme Court to lift the stay and allow the execution to move forward, arguing the appeals court granted the pause without Pike demonstrating she was likely to succeed in her underlying appeal. The Supreme Court had separately already declined to intervene and stop the execution once before the stay was granted. If the Supreme Court sides with the state and lifts the stay quickly, Pike could still be executed later the same day; if not, the case will face further review by the courts, with no fixed timeline for how long that process could take.
WBIR investigative producer John North said the situation could resolve within hours rather than days, explaining: "I don't think it would be as long as days or weeks, but it certainly could very well be hours. That's just the way it is. That's just the way these things kind of happen - the courts operate at their own pace. I would guess, that we will have a couple things happen today. We will either get this resolved legally from the court's perspective. Either they will say, 'No, everything's been resolved. This is not a legitimate issue that needs to be further scrutinized, the execution can go forward', or the full en banc panel or the United States Supreme Court could say, 'Okay, you know, let's stop this now. Let's take a look at this latest sort of habeas emergency issue that's been raised, and we'll further litigate it.'"
Background on the case
Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death in March 1996 for the premeditated murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time she and 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp attacked Slemmer in a wooded area, beating her for around 30 minutes and carving a pentagram into her chest before killing her in January 1995. Pike's attorneys have argued her documented childhood history of sexual abuse and rape wasn't properly considered during her original trial. Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency petition earlier this week following a review of the case. If the execution proceeds, Pike would become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. She currently remains on death watch at the Nashville facility.
Colleen Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, travelled from Florida to witness the execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, having previously said she hoped the sentence would finally allow her daughter to rest.
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7, or chat online via online.rainn.org.
