WASHINGTON, United States – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for Tennessee to proceed with the execution of Christa Gail Pike, vacating a last-minute stay issued by a federal appeals court hours before she was scheduled to receive a lethal injection.
Pike, 50, was scheduled to be executed Sept. 30 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when Slemmer was killed.
The Supreme Court’s order granted Tennessee’s application to vacate the stay issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The order did not include an explanation from the majority. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
Appeals court had halted execution
The Sixth Circuit had issued a temporary stay on Sept. 30 after Pike’s lawyers raised a challenge concerning evidence of severe childhood abuse and neglect.
Her attorneys argued that evidence about the abuse was not adequately presented during the penalty phase of her original trial and that the issue required further consideration before the state carried out the death sentence. The appeals court said additional time was needed to address the issues raised in Pike’s pending application.
The stay interrupted an execution that had been scheduled for 10 a.m. Central Time. Tennessee then asked the Supreme Court to vacate the stay and allow the execution to proceed.
Supreme Court order
The Supreme Court’s Sept. 30 order in Nelsen v. Pike states that the application to vacate the stay was granted and that the Sixth Circuit’s order staying the execution was vacated.
Sotomayor, joined by Kagan and Jackson, argued in dissent that the Sixth Circuit should have been allowed to consider Pike’s pending claims before Tennessee carried out the sentence.
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Sotomayor wrote that the Court’s action prevented the appeals court from giving further consideration to Pike’s claims and said the remaining litigation should not have been shortened simply to permit the execution to occur sooner.
The dissent does not alter the Supreme Court’s operative order vacating the stay.
Pike’s case dates to 1995
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder for Slemmer’s death in Knoxville in 1995. Tennessee court records identify the case as State of Tennessee v. Christa Gail Pike.
Pike’s lawyers have raised claims concerning her childhood sexual abuse, neglect and the presentation of mitigating evidence during sentencing. They have also challenged Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedures in separate litigation.
The Tennessee Supreme Court in September denied a request to stop the execution and rejected a request for a certificate of commutation, concluding that Pike had not demonstrated legal grounds preventing execution or circumstances warranting commutation under the state’s applicable standards. The court set Sept. 30, 2026, as the execution date in its September 2025 order.
Tennessee had already rejected clemency
Gov. Bill Lee previously denied Pike’s clemency petition, leaving the scheduled execution in place before the final federal litigation. Current reporting says the governor declined to intervene after Pike’s attorneys sought clemency.
The Tennessee Department of Correction had prepared for the execution and selected official media witnesses. Its September execution advisory identified Sept. 30 as the scheduled execution date at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.
First woman in Tennessee’s modern era
If carried out, Pike’s execution would mark the first execution of a woman by Tennessee in roughly two centuries. She is also the only woman listed on Tennessee’s death row in current reporting.
Her case has drawn attention because she committed the killing at age 18 and because her lawyers have emphasized her history of childhood abuse and other mitigating circumstances. Those arguments remain part of the litigation record and should be distinguished from the facts established by her conviction.
The Supreme Court’s Sept. 30 order resolves the immediate stay question by allowing Tennessee to proceed. It does not itself adjudicate every outstanding claim raised by Pike’s lawyers.
Reporting Credit: U.S. Supreme Court; Tennessee Supreme Court; Tennessee Department of Correction.
