Federal Appeals Court Halts Christa Pike’s Execution in Split Ruling

A divided federal appeals court halted Christa Gail Pike’s execution Wednesday, giving judges additional time to consider whether she can reopen the federal proceedings that previously denied her relief from her death sentence.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued the 2–1 ruling on September 30, ordering that Pike’s execution be stayed “until further order of this court.” The decision pauses the execution but does not overturn her conviction or death sentence.

Pike, 50, was convicted of killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a Knoxville job training facility, in 1995. Pike was 18 at the time. The Associated Press reported that Wednesday’s stay came about an hour before the execution was scheduled to begin.

Judge Jane B. Stranch wrote the majority’s order, joined by Judge Karen Nelson Moore. Judge Richard Allen Griffin dissented.

The dispute centers on Pike’s request to reopen the judgment denying her earlier federal habeas petition, through which she challenged her detention and death sentence. She filed the request under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6).

According to the order, Pike argues that Tennessee recently reversed its litigation position concerning her history of childhood sexual abuse and rape. She contends that the state’s acknowledgment undermines earlier state court proceedings and affected the integrity of the subsequent federal review, which required substantial deference to state court factual findings.

Tennessee argues that Pike is attempting to revive an ineffective assistance of counsel claim concerning her trial lawyers’ alleged failure to investigate or present evidence of childhood sexual abuse.

That distinction matters because federal law places strict limits on second or successive habeas petitions. The district court determined that Pike’s filing amounted to another habeas petition and transferred the case to the Sixth Circuit. Pike asked the appeals court to send her motion back to the district court.

The majority did not resolve that question in Wednesday’s order. Instead, it said a short stay was necessary to examine the parties’ fully briefed arguments and reach a decision.

Griffin sharply disagreed, describing the filing as “another last-ditch meritless effort to delay a lawful execution.” He argued that Pike was challenging the substance of the earlier habeas decision rather than identifying a defect in the federal proceedings that would permit reopening the case.

He also characterized the state’s recent remarks about Pike’s abuse as expressions of empathy, rather than new facts warranting further review. Griffin would have denied Pike’s request to return the motion to the district court and dismissed the successive application.

Although the majority described the pause as a short stay, the order sets no expiration date. Under Wednesday’s ruling, the execution remains stayed pending further action by the court.