The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Christa Pike's execution to proceed on Wednesday, hours after a federal appeals court had halted it, according to The Tennessean's account of the day.
That is the new development. BBC News reported earlier that the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had paused what would be Tennessee's first execution of a woman in 200 years, an hour or so before the scheduled lethal injection.
The Gateway Pundit, a right-leaning outlet, relays The Tennessean's reporting. It says the high court vacated the stay just before 6 p.m. CT in a 6-3 order and said the execution could go forward before midnight. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Sotomayor wrote that the majority was clearing the way before it could properly consider pending challenges.
Developing — unverified: the account of what happened inside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville comes from Pike's attorneys and witnesses, relayed through The Gateway Pundit. It has not been confirmed by state officials in the material we reviewed. That includes the claim that two doses failed, and whether Pike is alive or dead.
Attorney Kelly Gleason said Pike's co-counsel Randy Spivey stepped out of the chamber to call her. The Tennessean quotes Gleason saying Pike needed immediate medical care.
“She’s alive and snoring,” Gleason said.
The Tennessean's timeline, as relayed, runs like this:
- The blinds closed at 7:46 p.m. Witnesses said they could still hear her breathing.
- Three minutes later the blinds reopened. Witnesses said Pike was still breathing and began snoring.
- The blinds closed again at 8:05 p.m. Breathing continued while the microphone was on.
- Officials removed witnesses at 8:53 p.m. Witnesses said they could still hear her breathing when the microphone cut off.
Pike's attorneys say two syringes of pentobarbital were given. WKRN journalist Tori Gessner, who has witnessed multiple executions, said at a press conference: “Nothing about today was normal, typical, at all.” Gessner quoted Pike as saying, “My arm feels like it’s about to burst open.”
State protocol allows a second set of backup drugs five minutes after the first. According to The Tennessean, it does not say what happens if those fail. An ambulance and first responders arrived at the prison during the witness press conference.
The legal fight was about childhood abuse. BBC News reports Pike's lawyers argued the case should be revisited because the state acknowledged for the first time in August that she was sexually abused as a child. A dissenting appeals judge called the push “another last-ditch meritless effort to delay a lawful execution.” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay. Tennessee's governor had already rejected her clemency bid.
Pike is 50. She was 18 when she was convicted of murdering and torturing schoolmate Colleen Slemmer, 19, in January 1995. Her then-boyfriend, who was 17, received a life sentence, according to CBS. BBC News reports that Slemmer's mother wants the execution to go forward.
In a letter to NBC News, quoted by the New York Post, Pike wrote: “I am not afraid to die. I’m only nervous about the process.”
The death warrant expires at midnight. When witnesses were removed, no time of death had been announced.