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.
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Execution of lone woman on Tennessee’s death row paused by federal appeals court - Regional Media News
(NEW YORK) - The execution of the only woman on Tennessee's death row was paused at the 11th hour as a federal appeals court reviews the case. The state has since asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the appeals court's stay. Christa Pike, 50, [...]
Christa Pike's execution was scheduled for Wednesday at noon (Chile time) in Tennessee, United States. However, shortly before the scheduled time, a federal court temporarily suspended the procedure to review some records that her lawyers claimed were not considered at all when Pike was sentenced to death at age 18. Pike, currently 50, was convicted of the murder of Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old girl she tortured and killed in 1995, when she wa…
Tennessee halts first execution of woman in 200 years
A US court on Wednesday halted the lethal injection of a 50-year-old female killer that would have been Tennessee's first execution of a woman in more than 200 years. Barely an hour before Christa Pike was due to die by lethal injection, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling to stay the execution, three decades after she murdered a classmate. Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend beat and killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, at a job traini…
Federal court halts Christa Pike’s execution in Tennessee at the last moment
A federal appeals court has temporarily stayed the execution of Christa Gail Pike, who would be the first woman in Tennessee to be executed in more than 200 years. The order came just an hour before the death sentence was scheduled to be carried out. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said it was […]
'Childhood Abuse Gives You Licence to Kill an Innocent Girl?': Critics Slam Christa Pike Execution Delay
A US appeals court has temporarily halted Christa Pike's Tennessee execution over claims that her childhood abuse, rape and mental health conditions were not properly considered.
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