Federal prosecutors are opposing efforts to halt Christa Pike’s execution, arguing that her latest request for further proceedings repeats a claim that has already been rejected.
Pike’s lethal injection was scheduled for September 30, but the execution was stayed after her lawyer argued that a previous judge had failed to consider allegations that she was abused as a child.
Prosecutors are asking the court to deny Pike’s request to transfer the case to another court for consideration of whether she received ineffective assistance from her lawyers during sentencing.
In their filing, prosecutors said the application had been submitted at the last minute and represented another attempt to revisit the same issue.
They described the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer in stark terms, writing: “On January 12, 1995, Christa Gail Pike beat, tortured, and killed Colleen Slemmer because Pike ‘just felt mean that day.’”
The filing also alleges that Pike cut Slemmer’s throat six times, struck her in the back with a meat cleaver and crushed her skull with a piece of asphalt.
Prosecutors are now asking the judge to reject Pike’s motion and allow the execution proceedings to continue.
