美国最高法院周三为田纳西州执行克里斯塔·派克的死刑扫清了障碍，派克因于1995年在诺克斯维尔职业训练中心残忍杀害同班同学科琳·斯莱默而被定罪，当时斯莱默年仅19岁。
Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared the way for the execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee for the brutal 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, who was a 19-year-old classmate of Pike’s at the Job Corps Center in Knoxville.
法院三位由民主党总统任命的大法官对多数派的决定提出异议，他们指责多数派仓促做出决定，绕过正常上诉程序，允许执行死刑。
The court’s three Democratic appointees dissented from what they said was the majority’s rushed decision to short-circuit the normal appeals process and allow the execution to proceed.
多数派未解释其决定，即解除下级法院合议庭当天早些时候对执行死刑的叫停，这促使州政府向最高法院请求紧急救济。
The majority did not explain its decision to lift a block that a lower court panel placed on the execution earlier in the day, prompting the state to ask the high court for speedy relief.
索托马约尔大法官写道：“令人震惊的是，法院默许了这一点。”卡根大法官和杰克逊大法官加入了她的意见。他们表示，这是他们所描述的由共和党总统任命的大法官组成的多数派滥用职权的最新例证。
“Stunningly, the Court acquiesces,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. They said it was the latest example of what they described as the Republican-appointed majority abusing its role.
周二，美国最高法院驳回了派克的申请，派克在犯罪时年仅18岁，她申请暂停原定于周三执行的死刑。在该申请中，她的律师引用了临床心理学证据，称派克的创伤后应激障碍“会在执行死刑前和执行过程中被深度触发，因为这将模拟她童年时期反复遭受的强奸和性虐待。”他们希望大法官们推迟她的执行，以便最高法院能考虑严重的心理折磨是否违反了禁止残酷和非常规惩罚的第八修正案。
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an application from Pike, who was 18 at the time of the crime to halt her execution that was scheduled for Wednesday. In that application her lawyers cited clinical psychological evidence that Pike’s post-traumatic stress disorder “would be profoundly triggered before and during the execution process because it will simulate her repeated rapes and sexual abuse as a child.”They wanted the justices to put off her execution so that the high court could consider whether severe psychological torture violates the Eighth Amendment which bans cruel and unusual punishment.
但随后，联邦上诉法院合议庭在周三上午叫停了执行。合议庭多数意见称，将实施“短期暂停”，以便妥善分析派克提出的法律问题，持异议的法官则称这是“另一项拖延合法执行的最后徒劳尝试，毫无根据。”州政府随即将此事提交华盛顿，敦促最高法院解除暂停令，称这是对派克“耍花招”的不公正奖赏。最高法院由共和党总统任命的大法官们对死刑辩护诉讼提出过类似批评。
But then a divided federal appellate panel halted the execution on Wednesday morning. The panel majority said it was entering a “short stay” to properly analyze the legal issues Pike raised, over a dissent that called it “another last-ditch meritless effort to delay a lawful execution.”The state then brought the matter back to Washington, urging the high court to lift the stay, calling it an unjust reward for Pike’s “gamesmanship.”The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed justices have made similar criticisms of capital defense litigation.
周三，索托马约尔大法官对多数派未加解释的命令提出异议，她表示看不出“有任何理由绕过正常的上诉审查程序，尤其是考虑到错误决定的严重后果”。这位奥巴马任命的大法官指出，州政府想要将处决提前几天或几周的愿望，并不凌驾于派克对自己生命的根本利益之上。
Dissenting from the majority’s unexplained order on Wednesday, Sotomayor said she saw “no reason to short-circuit the ordinary process of appellate review, particularly in light of the grave consequences of an erroneous decision.”The Obama appointee said the state’s desire to expedite an execution by a few days or weeks did not outweigh Pike’s fundamental interest in her own life.
索托马约尔表示，法院的死刑案件判例要求在做出无法撤销的决定前保持审慎，并指出法院常说自己是“复核法院，而非初审法院”。她称，法院周三的决定“正如最近屡见不鲜的那样，偏偏在最关键的时候选择无视这一原则。”
Sotomayor said the court’s capital case precedents demand caution before making a decision the court can’t undo, noting the court often says it’s one “of review, not of first view.”She said the court’s decision Wednesday, “as it has too often lately, chooses to overlook that principle precisely when it matters most.”
反对州政府要求执行处决的申请，派克的律师称，此案“引发了严重担忧，即基于一份因虚假论点和证据而受损的记录——而州政府现在已否认这些论点和证据——处决一名青少年时期遭受儿童性虐待和强奸的幸存者。”他们表示，上个月州政府首次承认，派克在犯罪时是一名青少年时期遭受儿童性虐待和强奸的幸存者，且患有未经药物治疗的双相情感障碍和创伤后应激障碍。律师称这很关键，因为在之前的诉讼中，州政府曾称她为病理性撒谎者，并暗示她编造了自己的经历。
Opposing the state’s application for her execution to go forward, Pike’s lawyers said her case raises “grave concerns about the execution of a teenaged survivor of child sexual abuse and rape based on a record whose integrity was tainted by specious arguments and evidence the State now disavows.”They said that for the first time last month, the state conceded that Pike was a teenage survivor of child sexual abuse and rape who was struggling with unmedicated bipolar disorder and PTSD at the time of her crime. That’s significant, they said, because the state during prior litigation had called her a pathological liar and suggested she was making her history up.
“州政府如今承认虐待及其影响确属实，这无疑动摇了州法院程序的公正性，也动摇了联邦人身保护令法院对该程序合宪性的审慎审查，”他们表示，并称“在21世纪，刑事司法系统竟准备处决一名强奸和儿童性虐待幸存者，而陪审团从未有机会在权衡被告道德责任时考量这些事实，这简直不可思议。”
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“For the State to now recognize that the abuse and its impact were very real certainly impugns the integrity of the state court process as well as the habeas court’s careful review of the constitutionality of that process,” they said, calling it “inconceivable that in the 21st century, the criminal justice system is poised to execute a survivor of rape and child sexual abuse whose jury never had the opportunity to consider those facts in weighing the defendant’s moral culpability.” to the Deadline: Legal newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
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