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US appeals court halts Tennessee execution of Christa Pike
Al Jazeera • • nation
Key Points:
- A federal appeals court has issued a temporary stay of execution for Christa Pike, halting her lethal injection less than two hours before it was scheduled in Tennessee.
- The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing Pike’s claim that evidence of her childhood sexual abuse was not properly considered during her sentencing.
- Tennessee officials have appealed to the US Supreme Court to lift the stay and proceed with the execution, which would have been the first of a woman in Tennessee in over 200 years.
- Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime committed when Pike was 18; her lawyers argue her abusive childhood and mental health diagnoses warrant a sentence reduction.
- The case has drawn international attention, including calls from UN human rights experts to commute Pike’s death sentence, highlighting the rarity of female executions and executions for crimes committed as a teenager in Tennessee.
