The nation's highest court on Sept. 30 overturned a temporary stay from a lower court to enable Tennessee to move forward with the death sentence of Christa Gail Pike. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals had previously halted the proceedings in a 2-1 vote to determine if childhood sexual abuse and rape were sufficiently weighed during Pike's sentencing. This intervention by the US Supreme Court removes the final legal obstacle after Governor Bill Lee denied Pike's request for clemency.

Pike, now 50, was convicted in 1996 for the 1995 murder of a classmate she killed when she was 18 years old. If executed, she will be the first woman put to death by the state of Tennessee in more than 200 years. Her attorneys and UN experts previously called for mercy, citing Pike's history of childhood trauma and mental illness.