U.S. court halted Christa Pike's execution just hours before it was due to take place
Kyiv • UNN
The U.S. appeals court suspended Christa Pike's execution in Tennessee following her petition for a case review. The state attorney general filed an appeal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed the execution of Christa Pike just hours before it was due to take place. She was set to become the first woman executed in the state of Tennessee in 206 years. UNN reports this, citing the court’s ruling.
Details
According to the court’s ruling, Christa Pike filed a motion to remand the case to the district court, arguing that the state had recently changed its position in the litigation, under which she had been portrayed as a liar who fabricated sexual abuse.
Pike argues that the state’s acknowledgment of her account of childhood sexual abuse and rape "undermines the foundation" of the trial of her case in state court.
Pike also cites authoritative scholarly sources in support of her argument that the state’s statements regarding her history of sexual abuse tainted the proceedings in state court and the subsequent federal proceedings by introducing harmful stereotypes about survivors of sexual abuse.
"To properly consider and resolve the issues currently before this court, and after carefully weighing all the circumstances, we conclude that a stay of Pike’s execution is necessary. A stay of execution is an equitable remedy. Accordingly, it is hereby ordered: the execution of the applicant is stayed pending further order of this court," the court’s ruling states.
However, one of the circuit judges expressed the view that this case was yet another baseless last-minute attempt to delay a lawful execution.
According to media reports, after the stay was granted, Tennessee’s attorney general immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Witnesses and media representatives remained at the prison in case the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed.
Update
In the U.S. state of Tennessee, preparations are underway to execute a woman for the first time in 200 years—50-year-old Christa Pike, who was sentenced to death for murdering a classmate in 1995.
Pike’s execution was scheduled for Wednesday. She was 18 at the time of the crime and became one of the youngest women in the United States to be sentenced to death.
Pike and her boyfriend were found guilty of murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, with whom they attended school in Knoxville. According to prosecutors, Pike viewed the girl as a romantic rival, lured her to a secluded location, where the victim was tortured, and then killed.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee stated on September 28 that he would not pardon Pike. Her attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to halt the execution, while the mother of the murdered Colleen Slemmer supports carrying out the death sentence.
"The application for a stay of execution, submitted to Justice Kavanaugh and referred by him to the Court, is denied. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied," the Supreme Court’s ruling of September 29 states.