Overview
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a temporary stay on Wednesday, Sept. 30, saying it will review whether Pike's allegations of childhood sexual abuse were fully considered when she was sentenced to death.
- Tennessee has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the stay and allow the execution to proceed while the appeals court conducts its review.
- Pike was convicted for the 1995 torture and killing of 19‑year‑old Colleen Slemmer and was 18 at the time; her co‑defendant Tadaryl Shipp, who was 17 then, received a life term with parole eligibility.
- Governor Bill Lee denied Pike's 226‑page clemency petition that documented years of sexual abuse and mental‑health diagnoses, and the Supreme Court earlier rejected an emergency bid to stop the execution.
- The pause focuses attention on rare executions of women, international calls for clemency from U.N. experts, recent Tennessee execution‑protocol failures, and whether last‑day appeals properly address trauma and mitigation.