Tennessee governor halts executions after Christa Gail Pike survives lethal injection attempt
The stay lets appeals judges review whether Pike’s childhood abuse and mental health evidence was fully considered before the state proceeds.
- On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a temporary stay of execution, clearing the way for Tennessee to execute death-row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
- Pike was 18 when she and accomplices lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into a wooded area near the Knoxville Job Corps Center on January 12, 1995, and prosecutors say tortured and killed her in a prolonged attack.
- Women account for about 1% of the 1,683 people executed in the U.S. since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Pike would be Tennessee's first female execution in at least 200 years.
- Earlier on Wednesday, a 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 to issue a short stay, seeking time to weigh whether Pike's childhood sexual abuse claims received adequate consideration during her original sentencing.
- Dissenting, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson argued the majority's decision "unnecessarily prevents that court from giving due consideration to Pike's claim" before the state proceeds with execution.
255 Articles
255 Articles
Supreme Court sides with Tennessee to allow its first execution of a woman in 200 years
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Tennessee could proceed with its first execution of a woman in 200 years, clearing the way for Christa Pike to be put to death by lethal injection for murdering a schoolmate as an 18-year-old three decades ago.
NEWS HEADLINES: JUST IN: Supreme Court Vacates Last-Minute Stay, Clears Way For Christa Pike Execution – 100PercentFedUp.com – by Jack
The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Tennessee to move forward with the execution of Christa Gail Pike after a federal appeals court issued an eleventh-hour stay. The high court vacated the Sixth Circuit’s order Wednesday evening, removing the legal barrier that had halted the execution only hours earlier. The ruling does not itself confirm that the lethal injection has been completed. It restores Tennessee’s authority to proceed under…
THE US Supreme Court has approved the execution of Christa Pike, the first woman in Tennessee in 200 years, after the governor denied a request for clemency.
Supreme Court Clears Tennessee Execution of Christa Pike
The Supreme Court cleared the path for Tennessee to execute Christa Pike for a 1995 torture murder, the state's first execution of a woman in 200 years. The Hill reported that the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stop the scheduled lethal injection of Tennessee death-row inmate Christa Pike, convicted in the 1995 killing […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the state of Tennessee to carry out the death sentence of Christa Pike, but the execution has not been completed. Pike is the only woman on Tennessee's death row, and the case would have been the first execution of a woman in the state in at least 200 years. The Supreme Court's decision overturned a stay granted about an hour before the scheduled lethal injection by the federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Ci…
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