US court stays woman's execution an hour before it was due

A US federal appeals court on Wednesday, less than an hour before the scheduled time, halted the execution of 50-year-old Christa Gale Pike, who was convicted in 1996 of brutally murdering a classmate in the state of Tennessee. The execution was due to take place at the maximum-security Riverbend prison in Nashville at 10:00 local time (17:00 Prague time), the BBC reports.

The judges said they needed more time to weigh the defence's arguments: Pike's lawyers contend that the trial court and jury did not adequately take into account the fact that, as a child, she was sexually abused and raped on several occasions. It remains unclear whether — or when — the execution will now go ahead.

The murder of a classmate

Christa Gale Pike was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in March 1996, over the brutal killing of her classmate Colleen Slemmer, and was sentenced to death.

The murder took place in January 1995: Pike carried it out together with her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and a friend, Shadolla Peterson. According to investigators, on Thursday, 12 January 1995, the trio agreed to rent a film and spend time together — and invited Colleen along. Colleen was wary of the idea: Pike had long bullied her and played mean tricks on her, and now was suddenly offering friendship. Colleen decided that Christa was probably trying to bury the hatchet, and accepted the invitation.

Years of appeals and rejections

Pike's legal team spent years trying to get her sentence reduced. Among others, they appealed to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute the death sentence to life without parole, but were turned down. An appeal to the US Supreme Court also failed: it, too, declined to postpone the date of the execution.

UN human rights experts also took up Pike's case — they backed the position of Amnesty International and likewise called for clemency. Shortly before the scheduled execution, petitions calling for the death sentence to be overturned for the now 50-year-old woman began circulating online.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz