Appeals Court Halts Christa Pike’s Execution

The Sixth Circuit stayed Christa Pike’s execution about an hour before the 10 a.m. lethal injection set for Sept. 30, 2026, at Riverbend in Nashville. Pike, 50, was convicted in 1996 of murdering Colleen Slemmer, 19, in 1995 when Pike was 18. Court documents say she confessed to slashing Slemmer’s throat, throwing asphalt at her head, and keeping a piece of her skull. The Supreme Court denied a stay the day before without explanation; Gov. Bill Lee denied clemency earlier that week. Judges Jane B. Stranch and Karen Moore ordered the stay after a district court transferred a habeas filing it said it lacked jurisdiction to hear. On the dispute over the stay, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the matter a technical issue, said last-minute objections are common after decades of capital litigation, and asked the Supreme Court to lift the stay. The Sixth Circuit said the interests of justice compel a short stay to properly analyze fully briefed arguments. Defense attorneys argue childhood sexual abuse was not fully presented at sentencing; Pike has PTSD and bipolar disorder and described herself as a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. The length of the stay and the Supreme Court’s response are unresolved. Pike would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.