JUST IN: US Supreme Court Allows Tennessee’s Execution of Christa Pike to Move Forward

The US Supreme Court has allowed the execution of Christa Gail Pike in Tennessee to proceed, overturning a last-minute stay granted by an appeals court. The stay was intended to consider Pike’s allegations of childhood sexual abuse during sentencing. Pike, now 50, is set to be executed for a 1995 murder, and this marks the first execution of a woman in Tennessee in two centuries.

• The US Supreme Court allowed the execution of Christa Gail Pike in Tennessee to move forward.
• A last-minute stay of execution by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was overturned by the Supreme Court.
• The appeals court had questioned whether Pike’s childhood sexual abuse allegations were considered during sentencing.
• Pike, 50, is scheduled for execution for a 1995 murder, stabbing, torture, and beating of Colleen Slemmer.
• This is the first execution of a woman in Tennessee in 200 years.