Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder as a teenager, has been cleared for execution after the US Supreme Court overturned a last-minute stay.
Pike, now 50, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10am on Wednesday for the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who was attacked in what prosecutors described as a jealous rage.
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an order early Wednesday temporarily halting the execution “until further order of this court.”
The pause followed a judge’s decision to review whether prosecutors had considered the childhood sexual abuse Pike experienced when she was originally sentenced.
“The court has stayed this, recognizing the serious concerns about Christa’s scheduled execution,” Stephen Ferrell of the Federal Defenders Services of Eastern Tennessee said after the ruling.
Following the dramatic development, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office asked the US Supreme Court to remove the stay, describing the matter as a “technical issue,” according to The Tennessean.
The Supreme Court’s order overturning the stay was issued shortly before 6pm.
The justices did not explain their decision in the brief, two-sentence order backing state prosecutors. The court’s three liberal members—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson—dissented.
Pike is now set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Christa Pike, now 50, was 18 when she killed a classmate in a jealous rage, making her one of the youngest women sent to death row.
Pike was convicted at 18 in March 1996 of brutally stabbing and beating Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer to death, pictured.
Pike was convicted in March 1996, at age 18, for the brutal stabbing and beating death of Colleen Slemmer, a student at the Knoxville Job Corps.
She initially argued that a lethal injection should be ruled out because of her Buddhist beliefs. Earlier this month, she requested that an all-female firing squad carry out the execution, with her lawyers pointing to the abuse she suffered during childhood.
Pike’s boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and accomplice Shadolla Peterson helped lure Slemmer to a wooded area, where Pike and Shipp tortured her.
Police evidence showed that the pair carved a pentagram into the teenager’s chest. Peterson testified that Pike also carved a mark into Slemmer’s head.
Investigators said Pike took a piece of Slemmer’s skull as a souvenir.
Slemmer tried to escape, but Pike and Shipp caught her and continued the attack, which Pike estimated lasted between 30 minutes and an hour.
Pike and Shipp were both convicted of first-degree murder. Pike received a death sentence, while Shipp was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Peterson, who was 18 at the time, acted as a lookout during the attack and received probation in exchange for cooperating with authorities.
Christa Gail Pike is escorted from Knox County Criminal Court on March 30, 1996, after receiving a death sentence for Colleen Slemmer’s murder.
Pike was assisted by her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (left), and their classmate Shadolla Peterson (right)
Just hours before her planned execution, Pike refused her last meal, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Inmates are typically given $20 to spend on their last meal, according to The Tennessean. The state still planned to provide Pike with a meal.
Her refusal came after Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency request and the US Supreme Court declined to stop the execution.
Pike’s lawyers said they were ‘deeply saddened and heartbroken’ by the governor’s decision.
‘Moving ahead with her execution puts the State of Tennessee on singular footing,’ they said in a statement to Fox 17.
‘Christa will be the first person Tennessee executes in the modern death penalty era who was a teenager at the time of the offense, and the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.’
Kathleen Walter prayed in the area reserved for people opposed to the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution ahead of Pike’s scheduled execution
Pike had asked for an all-female firing squad to kill her instead of lethal injection after previously asking to be hanged, the New York Post reported.
Her lawyers cited her post-traumatic stress disorder from years of abuse she suffered at the hands of men as a young girl, including when she was two years old.
Because of that, they requested that an all-female team handle her execution because she has trauma from men.
‘[Lethal injection administered by men] will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur,’ Pike’s lawyer Stephen Ferrell said.
‘There is an increased risk of pain and suffering.’
According to the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Pike was a victim of child sexual abuse, multiple rapes and attempted suicide at age 12.
When she was 17, she was allegedly grabbed by a stranger by the side of the road and raped. Police never arrested a suspect.
She allegedly killed Colleen Slemmer almost one year to the day after the rape.
Slemmer’s heartbroken mother, May Martinez, previously told Our News Outlet she wanted to watch her daughter’s murderer die while sitting in the front-row seat at her now halted execution
Slemmer’s heartbroken mother, May Martinez, previously told Our News Outlet she wanted to watch her daughter’s murderer die while sitting in the front-row seat at her now halted execution.
She and other execution witnesses had gathered at the jail when the order to halt Pike’s death was issued.
A large media presence, including international reporters, also convened at the jail for the planned execution, according to The Tennessean.
Martinez almost didn’t make it to Pike’s near-execution because of travel expenses, but a GoFundMe page helped her afford to do so.
‘They truly cannot believe how many people have stepped up, donated, shared, prayed, and simply shown that they care. They are beyond grateful for every single one of you,’ the fundraiser wrote on Sunday.
‘You helped make sure they could be there for Colleen. And that means more than words can say.’
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
