Appeals court pauses Christa Gail Pike's execution in Tennessee
The 6th Circuit said it will review whether Pike’s childhood abuse and rape allegations were fully considered before sentencing.
- On Wednesday, a federal appeals court paused the execution of Christa Gail Pike, 50, who was scheduled for lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
- Convicted of stabbing and beating 19-year-old Slemmer, Pike and her boyfriend were classmates at a job training facility in Knoxville, where the case gained notoriety for a pentagram carved into the victim's body, fueling "satanic panic" fears of the 1990s.
- Following Monday's clemency denial by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and the Supreme Court's Tuesday refusal to intervene, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell claims Pike's sentence is an outlier because other 18-year-olds in Tennessee had their death sentences vacated.
- Victim's mother May Martinez said she wants the execution carried out after waiting decades for justice. "Every time I think about it, I think about Colleen feeling that pain and trying to get up and run," Martinez said.
- Executing women remains rare, with only 18 put to death in the country since 1976, representing about 1% of all executions. If carried out, Pike's sentence would be Tennessee's first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
98 Articles
98 Articles
Court Halts Christa Pike Execution With an Hour to Go
Christa Pike's scheduled death by lethal injection in Tennessee cam to an abrupt halt just an hour before it was set to begin. The US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit on Wednesday paused her execution "until further order of this court," reports the Tennessee. "The court has stayed...
(LPL) – Christa Gail Pike’s execution was suspended on Wednesday by a federal appeals court, about an hour before it began at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution prison in Nashville. The court ordered a temporary halt to the proceedings to review whether the charges of [...]
Christa Pike's Tennessee execution halted by court
A federal appeals court halted the planned execution of Christa Pike, 50, in Tennessee on Wednesday an hour before it was scheduled to take place. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed the execution until further notice. The judges said they want to review whether her allegations of sexual abuse and rape […]
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