U.S. Supreme Court Allows Christa Gail Pike’s Execution In Tennessee To Go Forward

The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Tennessee to execute Christa Gail Pike on Wednesday, overturning a stay the 6th Circuit had issued just an hour before the scheduled lethal injection. The appeals court wanted time to consider whether Pike's claims of childhood sexual abuse were properly weighed at sentencing; three liberal justices dissented, with Sotomayor calling the decision 'stunning' for clearing the way before Pike's pending legal challenges could be resolved.

Pike, now 50, was convicted at 18 for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer, a case that drew attention partly due to a pentagram carved into the victim's body amid the era's 'satanic panic.' Tennessee's attorney general argued the last-minute stay traumatized Slemmer's family and rewarded delay tactics, while Pike's attorneys argued her jury never heard evidence of the sexual abuse she says began in toddlerhood.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.