NASHVILLE, Tenn: A US appeals court Wednesday halted the execution of a Tennessee woman shortly before she was scheduled to receive a lethal injection, nearly three decades after she was convicted of killing a classmate.
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a last-minute order staying the execution of Christa Pike until further notice.
Pike's execution would have been the first of a woman in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the University of Tennessee's Knoxville campus. The case has drawn attention because of the length of time Pike has spent on death row.
The court's decision came shortly before prison officials were scheduled to carry out the execution by lethal injection.
Pike had been scheduled to become the first woman executed by Tennessee since the state resumed executions in the modern era.
The appeals court's stay means the execution will not proceed while the legal proceedings continue.
