The Tennessee execution of 50-year-old Christa Pike has been put on pause, as a last-minute stay of execution has been issued from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
TN Gov. Bill Lee already confirmed he would not intervene on the execution set for a woman convicted of torturing and murdering a teenager back in 1995. The order to halt the execution was filed early on Wednesday morning.
All of this follows multiple attempts for granted clemency requests by way of Pike’s legal team, all of which were rejected. Their arguments for clemency revolved around her untreated mental illness and childhood trauma.
“The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee determined that it did not have jurisdiction over Christa Pike’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6) motion to reopen the judgment denying habeas relief,” the order stated. “Therefore, it is ORDERED that execution of the sentence of death upon the movant is STAYED until further order of this court.”
