US appeal court on Wednesday halted the execution of death row inmate Christa Pike in Tennessee, less than two hours before she was scheduled to become the first woman the state has put to death in over 200 years.
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a “short stay of execution” to give it additional time to review Pike’s claim that her allegations of childhood sexual abuse were not sufficiently addressed during her sentencing. No fixed timeline was set for the decision.
Pike, whose clemency petition emphasizing childhood trauma and sexual assault was denied by Governor Bill Lee, would be the sole individual in contemporary U.S. capital‑punishment cases to be executed in Tennessee for an offense committed as a teenager.
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