U.S. Supreme Court lifts stay, allowing execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared a lower-court injunction, allowing Tennessee to carry out the lethal-injection execution of Christa Pike, 50, who was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Colleen Slemmer. The Court’s order came just before 6 p.m. local time, leaving the state’s execution order in place until midnight.

Pike, who was 18 at the time of the crime, was convicted alongside her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, for beating, torturing and killing the 19-year-old victim. Tennessee Attorney General had asked the high court to overrule the Sixth Circuit’s stay, which had been granted an hour before the scheduled execution.

"Tennessee's desire to expedite Pike's execution by a few days or even weeks cannot outweigh her 'fundamental interest in [her] own life,'" Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the order.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing separately, granted the application to vacate the stay without providing a detailed explanation. Earlier, the Sixth Circuit had paused the execution to allow further review of Pike’s pending legal challenges, including claims that the state had previously alleged she fabricated allegations of childhood sexual abuse.

If the execution does not occur before midnight, Tennessee’s Supreme Court would need to set a new date, according to the Associated Press.