Was Christa Gail Pike executed Wednesday? Not yet. A federal appeals court halted Tennessee’s execution of Pike, 50, about an hour before it was set to begin.
The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to stop the execution as it seeks to review whether her allegations of childhood sexual abuse and rape were fully considered at sentencing. Tennessee’s attorney general immediately appealed the stay to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Witnesses and media remained at the prison in case the high court allows the execution to proceed.
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Tennessee has not executed a woman for at least 200 years, according to Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the 1995 stabbing and beating of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate. Pike was 18 and was the only one sentenced to death. Her boyfriend received life in prison with the possibility of parole.
The case drew wide attention in part because a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body stoked fears of Satan worship during the “satanic panic.”
Pike does not deny the killing, but supporters cite her age, mental illness and severe sexual abuse.
Slemmer’s mother, May Martinez, wants the execution to go forward. “Not a day goes by, or a minute goes by that I do not think about Colleen,” Ms. Martinez said.
Read more:
• Court halts execution of Christa Gail Pike for a Tennessee murder she committed at age 18
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