Federal court halts Tennessee execution one hour before scheduled time

A federal court stopped Christa Pike’s execution just one hour before it was set to proceed, ordering a review of whether her childhood abuse was properly weighed in sentencing.

Federal court halts Tennessee execution one hour before scheduled time

US federal judges have stopped the execution of 50-year-old Christa Pike just one hour before she was due to be put to death, reports Danish daily Ekstra Bladet (https://ekstrabladet.dk/krimi/en-time-foer-henrettelsen-nu-er-den-standset/11305983).

The court decided to pause the procedure while it re-examines whether mitigating evidence about Pike’s childhood sexual abuse and rape was given adequate weight during her original capital sentencing.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. At the time of the killing, Pike was 18. She carried out the attack together with her then-boyfriend, then aged 17, and a third accomplice. The boyfriend received life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, while the third perpetrator cooperated with investigators and secured a reduced sentence.

Should the state eventually carry out the lethal injection, Pike would become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries. She remains the only female inmate on the state’s death row.

Authorities have not announced how long the postponement will last.

Source: Ekstra Bladet