US Supreme Court clears way for Christa Pike’s execution in Tennessee

The United States Supreme Court has cleared the way for the state of Tennessee to execute Christa Pike, overturning a last-minute stay that stalled the state’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years. Pike, 50, was initially scheduled to die by lethal injection on Wednesday morning for a killing she committed at age 18, and witnesses had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the 6th Circuit US Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to issue a stay. That court said a delay was needed to consider whether Pike’s allegations of childhood sexual abuse were fully considered at her sentencing.