The first woman set to be executed by Tennessee in 200 years has had her planned lethal injection halted just one hour before it was due to take place.
Murderer Christa Pike was given a stay of execution by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit around 9am CT Wednesday after a judge agreed to consider whether childhood sexual abuse she suffered was taken into account when she was first sentenced.
Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch described her decision as a ‘short stay of execution’ while the argument is reviewed. It is unclear exactly how long it will take.
Filings were submitted just 12 hours earlier, with the first of them hitting the court docket around 7.20pm on Tuesday. Another 171 pages have since been filed, according to The Tennessean.
Stephen Ferrell of the Federal Defenders Services of Eastern Tennessee said that ‘serious concerns’ had halted her planned execution.
After the sensational turn of events, the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office said it is asking the US Supreme Court to lift the pause on her execution, calling the decision a ‘technical issue,’ the outlet reported.
Pike was convicted at the age of 18 in March 1996 for brutally stabbing and beating Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer to death.
She initially demanded she be spared a lethal injection because of her Buddhist beliefs. Earlier this month, she asked for an all-female firing squad to carry out her killing, with her lawyers citing the abuse she experienced as a child.
Christa Pike’s execution has been halted indefinitely just one hour before she was due to be put to death
She was convicted at the age of 18 in March 1996 for brutally stabbing and beating Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer (pictured) to death
Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and an accomplice, Shadolla Peterson, also helped lure Slemmer to a wooded area before the couple tortured her to death.
The pair carved a pentagram into the teen’s chest, and Peterson testified that he saw Pike also carve something into Slemmer’s head, police evidence showed.
Pike also took a piece of her skull as a souvenir, according to investigators.
Slemmer attempted to run for her life, but the couple captured her again and continued the gruesome torture that lasted about 30 minutes to an hour, Pike estimated.
Pike and Shipp were both found guilty of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to death, and he received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Her execution was scheduled for 10am CT/ 11am ET before it was stopped.
Peterson, then 18, served as a lookout for the couple during the deadly attack and was granted probation in exchange for her co-operation.
Just hours before her planned execution, Pike refused her last meal, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Inmates are typically given $20 to spend on their last meal, according to The Tennessean. The state still planned to provide Pike with a meal.
Her decision came after Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency request and the US Supreme Court declined to stop the execution.
Earlier this month, Pike (pictured after her sentencing in 1996) asked for an all-female firing squad to carry out her killing, with her lawyers citing the abuse she experienced as a child
Pike’s boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (left), and an accomplice, Shadolla Peterson (right), also helped lure Slemmer to a wooded area before the couple tortured her to death
Pike also took a piece of Slemmer’s skull (pictured in court during her murder trial) as a souvenir, according to investigators
Pike’s lawyers said they were ‘deeply saddened and heartbroken’ by the governor’s decision.
‘Moving ahead with her execution puts the State of Tennessee on singular footing,’ they said in a statement to Fox 17.
‘Christa will be the first person Tennessee executes in the modern death penalty era who was a teenager at the time of the offense, and the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years.’
Just a week before her execution, Pike asked for an all-female firing squad to kill her instead of lethal injection, the New York Post reported.
Her lawyers cited her post-traumatic stress disorder from years of abuse she suffered at the hands of men as a young girl, including when she was two years old.
Because of that, they requested that an all-female team handle her execution because she has trauma from men.
‘[Lethal injection administered by men] will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur,’ Pike’s lawyer Stephen Ferrell said.
‘There is an increased risk of pain and suffering.’
Just hours before her planned execution, Pike refused her last meal, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction. (Pictured: A lethal injection bed inside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution)
Slemmer’s heartbroken mother, May Martinez, previously told the Daily Mail she wanted to watch her daughter’s murderer die while sitting in the front-row seat at her now halted execution
According to the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Pike was a victim of child sexual abuse, multiple rapes and attempted suicide at age 12.
When she was 17, she was allegedly grabbed by a stranger by the side of the road and raped. Police never arrested a suspect.
She allegedly killed Colleen Slemmer almost one year to the day after the rape.
In August, she asked the court to consider allowing her to be hanged instead, WATE reported.
Slemmer’s heartbroken mother, May Martinez, previously told the Daily Mail she wanted to watch her daughter’s murderer die while sitting in the front-row seat at her now halted execution.
She and other execution witnesses had gathered at the jail when the order to halt Pike’s death was issued.
Martinez and other execution witnesses had gathered at the jail (pictured) when the order to halt Pike’s death was issued. A large media presence, including international reporters, also convened at the jail for the planned execution
A large media presence, including international reporters, also convened at the jail for the planned execution, according to The Tennessean.
Martinez almost didn’t make it to Pike’s near-execution because of travel expenses, but a GoFundMe page helped her afford to do so.
‘They truly cannot believe how many people have stepped up, donated, shared, prayed, and simply shown that they care. They are beyond grateful for every single one of you,’ the fundraiser wrote on Sunday.
‘You helped make sure they could be there for Colleen. And that means more than words can say.’
