US Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in 200 years halted
Christa Pike, who has alleged that she was a victim of childhood sexual abuse, was 18 when she murdered Colleen Slemmer in 1995
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a “short stay of execution” to give it time to weigh Pike’s claim that her allegations of childhood sexual abuse were not adequately considered during her sentencing. The court did not provide a specific time frame.
Pike, whose clemency petition highlighting childhood trauma and sexual abuse was denied by Governor Bill Lee, would be the only person in the modern era of US capital punishment to be executed in Tennessee for a crime committed as a teenager.
