US Supreme Court Removes Obstacle for Tennessee to Proceed with Christa Pike's Execution

A picture taken on December 4, 2007, shows death row inmate Christa Pike entering a Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tennessee, US [J Miles Cary/ Knoxville News Sentinel/USA Today via Reuters]

The United States Supreme Court has cleared the path for the state of Tennessee to execute Christa Pike, setting aside a last-minute stay that had previously delayed what would be the state's first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.

Pike, 50, was originally slated to receive a lethal injection on Wednesday morning for a murder committed when she was 18 years old. Witnesses had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the 6th Circuit US Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to grant a stay. The appellate court indicated a delay was necessary to review whether Pike's claims of childhood sexual abuse received proper consideration during her sentencing.

The conservative majority of the Supreme Court issued their order without explanation, while the three liberal justices dissented, arguing that Pike's claims warranted a closer examination. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction announced that the state would move forward with the execution on Wednesday night ahead of the midnight deadline on the state's execution warrant.

Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, were convicted for the 1995 fatal stabbing and beating of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a job training facility in Knoxville. Shipp, who was 17 at the time of the crime, received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole, whereas Pike was the only individual sentenced to death.

Following the issuance of the stay, the attorney general of Tennessee promptly appealed to the US Supreme Court. Throughout the deliberations, witnesses and media personnel remained stationed at the prison.

The attorney general's office contended in its legal filing that halting the execution at the eleventh hour caused additional trauma to Colleen Slemmer's family and rewarded what it termed abusive delay tactics employed by Pike's legal team.

In her dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that the decision to vacate the stay interfered with the handling of the case by the 6th Circuit Court and unnecessarily blocked that court from providing due consideration to Pike's claims.

While Pike does not contest her role in the killing, supporters emphasize her youth at the time, her struggles with mental illness, and documented allegations of severe childhood sexual abuse, which allegedly included being raped from toddlerhood.

Defense lawyers wrote in a court filing that it is inconceivable that the modern criminal justice system is prepared to execute a survivor of rape and child sexual abuse whose jury was never given the chance to weigh those facts regarding her moral culpability.

Following the offense, Pike received diagnoses of bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In her clemency petition, she explained that she initially intended only to fight Colleen Slemmer, but the situation escalated into a frenzied attack when she was unable to stop herself.

Expressing remorse in a statement, Pike remarked that she was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid and noted the years it took to realize the full gravity of her actions and the impact on multiple lives, adding that the realization sickens her now.

Conversely, Colleen Slemmer's mother supports proceeding with the lethal injection, emphasizing the decades-long wait for the sentence to be carried out. May Martinez shared in a telephone interview that every thought of the incident brings back the memory of Colleen feeling that pain and attempting to escape.

According to Robin M Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, Tennessee has not executed a female inmate in over two centuries, though older historical records remain inconsistent regarding precise details of prior executions. Data from the center indicates that since the reinstatement of the death penalty by the Supreme Court in 1976, 18 women have been put to death nationwide, accounting for approximately 1 percent of all executions.