By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-01 00:31:56 | Updated at 2026-10-01 01:59:11
2 hours ago
Christa Pike on Jan. 12, 2023. TDOC via AP
The U.S. Supreme Court late on Sept. 30 lifted a lower court’s stay of execution for Christa Gail Pike, clearing the way for Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in more than 200 years.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit halted the lethal injection execution about an hour before it was scheduled to start on Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tennessee.
The 10:00 a.m. execution was paused after the Sixth Circuit requested more time to determine whether Pike’s history of childhood sexual abuse was fully presented when a jury returned a guilty verdict, and she was sentenced to death in 1996.
Not long after, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay.
Jacki Thrapp contributed to this report.
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This is a developing story and will be updated.
