Teenage killer Christa Pike has been cleared for execution after the United States Supreme Court overruled a last-minute stay.
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Court → clear → stay
Pike, now 50, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 10am on Wednesday for the 1995 slaying of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in a fit of jealous rage.
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Pike → schedule → rage
But the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an order early Wednesday morning staying Pike's execution 'until further order of this court.'
It came after a judge agreed to consider whether prosecutors took into account the childhood sexual abuse she suffered when she was first sentenced.
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she → issue → abuse
'The court has stayed this, recognizing the serious concerns about Christa's scheduled execution,' Stephen Ferrell, of the Federal Defenders Services of Eastern Tennessee, said at the time.
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Ferrell → stay → time
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,' according to The Tennessean.
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it → say → Tennessean
The order then overruling the stay then came in just before 6pm.
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order → overrule → pm
Supreme Court justices did not explain their reasoning for siding with state prosecutors in the brief two-sentence order, but the court's three liberal justices - Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson - dissented.
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justices → explain → order
Pike will now be the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
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Pike → execute → years
Christa Pike, now 50, was just 18 when she killed a classmate in a jealous rage and became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row
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
Pike was convicted at the age of 18 in March 1996 for brutally stabbing and beating Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer to death.
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Pike → kill → death
She initially demanded she be spared a lethal injection because of her Buddhist beliefs.
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she → demand → 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.
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she → ask → child
Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and an accomplice, Shadolla Peterson, also helped lure Slemmer to a wooded area before the couple tortured her to death.
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couple → lure → 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.
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evidence → carve → head
Pike also took a piece of her skull as a souvenir, according to investigators.
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Pike → take → 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.
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Pike → attempt → hour
Pike and Shipp were both found guilty of first-degree murder.
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Pike → find → murder
She was sentenced to death, and he received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.
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he → sentence → parole
Peterson, then 18, served as a lookout for the couple during the deadly attack and was granted probation in exchange for her cooperation.
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Peterson → serve → cooperation
Christa Gail Pike being escorted from Knox County Criminal Court on March 30, 1996, after being sentenced to death for the murder of Colleen Slemmer
Pike was assisted by her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp (left), and their classmate Shadolla Peterson (right)
Just hours before her planned execution, Pike refused her last meal, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
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Pike → escort → Correction
Inmates are typically given $20 to spend on their last meal, according to The Tennessean.
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Inmates → give → Tennessean
The state still planned to provide Pike with a meal.
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state → plan → meal
Her decision came after Governor Bill Lee denied her clemency request and the US Supreme Court declined to stop the execution.
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Court → come → execution
Pike's lawyers said they were 'deeply saddened and heartbroken' by the governor's decision.
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they → say → decision
'Moving ahead with her execution puts the State of Tennessee on singular footing,' they said in a statement to Fox 17.
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they → move → Fox
'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.
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who → execute → years
'
Kathleen Walter prays in the area reserved for people opposed to the death penalty outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution ahead of Pike's scheduled execution
Pike had asked for an all-female firing squad to kill her instead of lethal injection, the New York Post reported.
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Post → pray → injection
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.
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she → cite → girl
Because of that, they requested that an all-female team handle her execution because she has trauma from men.
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she → request → men
'[Lethal injection administered by men] will increase the likelihood that an 8th Amendment violation will occur,' Pike's lawyer Stephen Ferrell said.
'
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Ferrell → administer → likelihood
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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This → update → ?
The Aporia
