Supreme Court allows execution of Tennessee woman to proceed after delay (Washington Post)

Christa Pike beat a 19-year-old woman to death in 1995, then bragged about it. She got a fair trial, a death sentence, and three decades of appeals to go with it. The latest stall tactic was a claim that childhood sexual abuse should soften her punishment. On Wednesday night, the Supreme Court said no, and Tennessee can finally carry out the sentence.

That lower court pause was an insult to the victim and her family. The idea that Pike’s own suffering excuses the torture of another human being turns justice into a therapy session. Trauma explains a lot of things. It does not excuse murder. The victim’s mother has waited almost thirty years for this moment. The appeals court was ready to make her wait longer because a killer had a sad story. No amount of empathy for Pike brings back the woman she killed.

This is what happens when the left treats every death row inmate as a project instead of a person. There was no dispute about guilt here. There was no new evidence. There was only an argument that the punishment should fit the criminal’s childhood rather than the crime. The Supreme Court did its job by getting out of the way. Accountability is not cruelty. It’s what the victim’s.

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