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US state of Tennessee is scheduled to execute a woman convicted of murder three decades ago, marking its first execution of a female inmate in more than 200 years, according to the source report.
Christa Gail Pike, 50, is due to receive a lethal injection at 10 a.m. local time (1500 GMT) at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Governor declines clemency request
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said Monday that he would not intervene after considering Pike’s request for clemency and reviewing the case.
“After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike’s request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene,” Lee said in a statement.
Pike convicted in 1995 killing
Pike was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She remains the only female prisoner on Tennessee’s death row.
Her defence attorneys criticised the decision, saying that proceeding with the execution would place Tennessee “on singular footing” as the first state to execute a female prisoner in more than two centuries.
The lawyers also noted that an application remains pending before the US Supreme Court. However, a pending Supreme Court petition does not automatically halt an execution.
