Summary
A federal appeals court paused the execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee less than two hours before it was scheduled. The court is reviewing claims that Pike’s history of childhood sexual abuse and mental health issues was not fully considered during her sentencing.Key Facts
- Christa Pike’s execution was scheduled at a prison in Nashville, Tennessee.
- The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stop on the execution.
- Pike was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder she committed at age 18.
- Her lawyers claim her childhood abuse and mental health problems were not properly weighed in court.
- Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee denied Pike’s request for clemency to avoid execution.
- Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years.
- If executed, Pike would be the only person in Tennessee’s modern death penalty era put to death for a crime committed as a teenager.
- United Nations human rights experts have called for her sentence to be changed from death to life in prison.
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