The United States Supreme Court has cleared the path for the execution of death row inmate Christa Pike, marking a significant legal development as she is set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. The high court's decision effectively overturned a last-minute reprieve that had been granted by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday morning, just one hour before the 50-year-old was scheduled to be put to death.
Tennessee's attorney general had petitioned the Supreme Court to overrule the lower court's stay. Pike was originally sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. At the time of the crime, Pike was 18 years old when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, met Slemmer at a job training camp for troubled teens before proceeding to beat, torture, and kill the 19-year-old.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh granted the application to vacate the stay on Wednesday evening, though no explanation was provided in the order. The court's three liberal justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented from the decision. In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor stated that the ruling allows the state to proceed with the execution before Pike’s pending legal challenges to her conviction can be properly evaluated. She noted that the state's desire to expedite the execution by a few days or weeks cannot outweigh the prisoner's fundamental interest in her own life. If the current window passes, the Tennessee Supreme Court would be required to set a new date for the execution.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit had paused the execution, citing a need for more time to consider arguments regarding Pike's case. Her legal team had raised concerns that federal courts might have based previous rulings on the state's earlier claims that Pike lied about suffering sexual abuse as a child. However, at a recent hearing regarding her execution method, the state acknowledged it did not dispute that she had been a victim of sexual abuse and rape. Consequently, her lawyers argued that the federal review had been affected by the state's prior assertions and requested that the motion be sent back to the district court.
This Supreme Court action follows a rejection of a separate appeal from Pike on Tuesday. Additionally, the governor of Tennessee denied a clemency request from the inmate earlier this week.
Killer Christa Pike to be executed within days – but her defence say she's a victim too
