SCOTUS says Tennessee can move forward with Christa Pike's execution
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The U.S. Supreme Court said Wednesday night that Tennessee could move forward with death row inmate Christa Pike's execution, reversing a last-minute stay issued earlier in the day by a federal appeals court.
The latest: The high court cleared the way for the execution in a two-sentence order that capped a rapid-fire legal battle. The three liberal justices dissented.
- It wasn't immediately clear when the state would move forward with the execution, which was initially set to take place Wednesday morning.
Catch up quick: The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ordered "a short stay of execution" so it could consider an ongoing legal battle between Pike's attorneys and the state.
- The last-minute appeals court order came in about an hour before Pike's scheduled lethal injection at 10am in Nashville.
- Two members of a three-judge appeals panel backed the stay. The third judge disagreed, describing Pike's legal fight as a "last-ditch meritless effort to delay a lawful execution."
- The Tennessee attorney general's office quickly asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow the execution to proceed.
Between the lines: Pike's attorneys argue her history of child sexual abuse wasn't presented to the jury before she was sentenced to death in 1996.
Zoom in: Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, who was beaten to death. Pike was 18 at the time.
- Two other people were convicted in the case, but only Pike got the death penalty.
- Pike's advocates do not contest her guilt, but they argue that her history of childhood abuse should have been presented to the jury during the sentencing phase as "important context and mitigation for the offense."
Editor's note: This story was updated with the latest news that the U.S. Supreme Court has vacated the appeals court's stay.