Jane Branstetter Stranch
Senior judgeWikipedia
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6
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Search complete. 8 mentions across 6 episodes found for "Jane Branstetter Stranch".
Oct 5, 2026
Sandra GorielloHOST
A habeas petition challenges whether someone's imprisonment is legal, and federal courts set a high bar for overturning a state conviction.
Sandra GorielloHOST
Judge Jane Stranch agreed with the results, but wrote separately to question whether 18-year-olds should get death sentences at all.
Sandra GorielloHOST
Remember her name because she comes back on the morning of the execution.
Sandra GorielloHOST
Krista's supporters also argue that she was an outlier.
7 MINS LATER
Sandra GorielloHOST
Both went into September 30th with very different hopes.
Sandra GorielloHOST
On the morning of September 30th, about an hour before the execution was scheduled, the Sixth Circuit temporarily halted it.
Sandra GorielloHOST
The vote was 2-1, and the judge who wrote that opinion was Jane Stranch, the same judge from 2019.
Sandra GorielloHOST
A stay is a pause.
Kelly EvansHOST
But even some of the judges who ruled against her were uneasy about it.
Kelly EvansHOST
One of them was Judge Jane Branstetter-Stranch on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Kelly EvansHOST
In a concurring opinion on one of Krista's federal appeals, she agreed with the ruling but wrote that sentencing Krista to death meant ruling out the possibility her crime came from, quote, the immature mind of youth rather than fixed depravity, end quote.
Kelly EvansHOST
She pointed out that a lot of teenage killers have been rehabilitated behind bars.
Matt WalshHOST
Uh, exactly what you'd expect.
Matt WalshHOST
And here's Judge Jane Stranch.
Matt WalshHOST
She's a Vanderbilt grad who was, uh, appointed by Obama.
Matt WalshHOST
Again, exactly what you'd expect.
Darren MarlarHOST
Then on Wednesday morning, shortly before the ten AM execution time, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voted two to one to stay the execution.
Darren MarlarHOST
Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch wrote the order.
Darren MarlarHOST
Pike's last filing argued that the jury never heard about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child, and the judges wanted time to work out whether it could reopen her federal case or whether it was really a brand-new appeal, which the law does not allow.
Darren MarlarHOST
The dissenting judge called it a last-ditch meritless effort to delay a lawful execution.
RobinHOST
It was a three judge panel, two to one.
RobinHOST
Judge Jane Stranch wrote the order and the panel said that it needed a short stay to actually analyze the arguments and decide the issues on merits.
RobinHOST
OK, what issue, by the way, that that's an important question.
RobinHOST
So stay with me for a second, because for decades, according to Krista Pike's lawyers, the state of Tennessee's position in court was that her history of childhood sexual abuse was fabricated, that she was a liar.
27 MINS LATER
RobinHOST
And the one who was just a few months too old got the needle.
RobinHOST
Her lawyers argue that the jury never even properly heard about her abuse, and the state spent decades treating it as made up until six weeks before her execution date.
RobinHOST
A judge on the Sixth Circuit, again, Jane Stranch, wrote in a concurring opinion on one of Krista Pike's earlier appeals that sentencing Pike to death meant presuming that she was incapable of reform, even though the stories of other teenage killers show possibilities.
RobinHOST
And Rob Amar at DPICC, has said, you know, that a jury today hearing about her age, her mental illness, and her abuse would likely not give her a death sentence at all.
Rudy MartinezHOST
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed her execution roughly an hour before it was set to happen in a two-to-one ruling.
Rudy MartinezHOST
Judge Jane Stranch wrote that the case required a short stay of execution to allow the court to properly weigh her claims.
Rudy MartinezHOST
Judge Richard Griffin dissented.
Rudy MartinezHOST
Neither Tennessee Governor Bill Lee nor the U.S. Supreme Court had intervened before the appeals court acted on its own.