The US Supreme Court has denied a last-minute request to stop the execution of Christa Pike, a Tennessee inmate. Pike is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday morning.
Pike, 50, has been awaiting execution since her conviction and death sentence in 1996 for the murder of a teenage classmate. Her attorneys had filed a petition with the high court seeking a reprieve.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee previously denied a clemency request from Pike on Monday, stating he would not intervene. Pike will be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Pike was 18 when she and her then-boyfriend murdered 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Slemmer was found with a pentagram carved into her chest, a symbol associated with some satanic groups, though Pike has denied carving it. Pike's attorneys have argued that she was too young at the time of the murder to be sentenced to death.
The execution is due to take place at 11:00 EDT (15:00 GMT) on Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.