The Supreme Court authorized the execution of Christa Pike, Tennessee’s sole death-row inmate, Wednesday night. In a brief, unsigned order, the justices overturned a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which had delayed the procedure moments before its scheduled time. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, writing that she saw “no reason to short-circuit the ordinary process of appellate review, particularly in light of the grave consequences of an erroneous decision.”
Pike’s legal history
Pike was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. She has sought post-conviction relief in state court, arguing that her trial counsel should have presented evidence regarding the sexual abuse she suffered as a child. Her efforts to obtain relief in both state and federal courts were unsuccessful. On Tuesday, Pike filed a motion in federal court to reopen her case, pointing to the state’s recent concession that she was a teenaged survivor of child sexual abuse and rape who was struggling with unmedicated bipolar disorder and PTSD at the time of her crime.
The 6th Circuit put the execution on hold by a 2-1 vote on Wednesday morning to give that court time to consider the arguments. The state quickly asked the Supreme Court to lift that order, calling Pike’s latest filing an “abusive, tactical delay” and “nothing more than an attempt to relitigate the merits of” a claim that had already been rejected.
Pike countered that, even if the lower courts ultimately do not grant her motion to reopen the federal case, the Supreme Court should at least allow the Sixth Circuit to issue its decision, stating it was “inconceivable” that the criminal justice system would execute a survivor of rape and child sexual abuse whose jury never had the opportunity to consider those facts.
Shortly before 7 p.m. EDT, the Supreme Court granted the state’s request without explanation. A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction told the Associated Press that the execution would proceed Wednesday night ahead of a midnight cutoff on the state’s execution order. Tennessee officials were unable to put Pike to death that night, according to media witnesses and reports from the Associated Press.
Execution halted amid legal challenges
Pike’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to intervene and “immediately halt and stay the execution,” saying she was in “unnecessary agony” and that the process violated her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions in a federal district court and the 6th Circuit. The execution appeared to be underway when the legal challenges were filed, but the procedure did not proceed past Wednesday night.
