US Supreme Court sides with Tennessee to allow its first execution of a woman in 200 years

The US Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Tennessee could proceed with its first execution of a woman in 200 years, clearing the way for Christa Pike to be put to death by lethal injection for murdering a schoolmate as an 18-year-old three decades ago.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement to Reuters afterwards that it planned "to move forward with the execution today."

Pike, 50, whose clemency petition highlighting childhood trauma and sexual abuse was denied by Governor Bill Lee on Monday, would also be the only person in the modern era of US capital punishment to be executed in Tennessee for a crime committed as a teenager.

In an order decided by its 6-3 conservative majority, the Supreme Court lifted a stay of execution that was granted by a three-judge panel of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals one hour before Pike had been scheduled to be put to death.

The appellate panel voted 2-1 to order a "short stay" to allow time to weigh Pike's claim that evidence of her childhood sexual abuse was not adequately considered during her sentencing.

But the Tennessee attorney general's office immediately asked the US Supreme Court to vacate the stay. And the high court's decision siding with Tennessee marked the final word on whether the execution was permitted to go forward before her death warrant expires at midnight CDT (0500 GMT).

The state did not give a precise new timeframe for the execution, which was set to take place at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, the state capital.

If the state were to run out of time to conduct the execution, it would need to obtain a new warrant from the Tennessee Supreme Court, according to Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

Grisly killing

Pike was 18 in January 1995 when she, a 17-year-old boyfriend and a third companion lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate at their Knoxville Job Corps vocational centre, into a wooded area where they tortured and killed her.

The grisly nature of the slaying, which involved the perpetrators carving the shape of a pentagram in the victim's chest and taking a chunk of her skull as a souvenir of the carnage, drew intense media coverage at the time.

Trial testimony indicated that Pike viewed Slemmer as a rival for the affections of her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp.

Pike and Shipp both were convicted of first-degree murder. Pike was sentenced to death, while Shipp received a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Their co-defendant, Shadolla Peterson, who was 18 at the time of the murder and acted as a lookout for the other two, testified for the prosecution and received probation.

Currently the only woman on Tennessee's death row, Pike was also convicted in August 2001 of attempted first-degree murder in an assault on another inmate, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Teen who committed murder 'no longer exists'

In the 226-page petition asking the governor to commute her death penalty to a life sentence without the possibility of parole, Pike's lawyers documented her history as the childhood victim of violence, neglect and sexual abuse, including two rapes at ages 11 and 17. They also cited the diagnoses she received in prison for bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Moreover, they pointed to evidence that Pike's mother drank heavily during pregnancy, contributing to faulty brain development that made it difficult for their client to control her impulses as a young person.

"The 18-year-old girl suffering from severe mental illness and near-debilitating trauma no longer exists," her lawyers wrote in response to Lee's denial of clemency. "Christa is a 50-year-old remorseful woman who understands her actions, receives proper treatment for her mental illness and provides for and guides fellow incarcerated women."

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez, has spoken out in support of the execution.

Executions of female prison inmates are exceedingly rare in the US, with women accounting for just 18 of the 1,683 people put to death since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Before Wednesday, Tennessee had executed 17 people.