Appeals Court Halts Christa Pike’s Execution

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit halted Christa Pike’s scheduled lethal-injection execution in Tennessee about an hour before it was due to begin, ordering a temporary stay while it reviews her legal claims. The court is considering whether allegations of severe childhood sexual abuse and related evidence were adequately presented in proceedings that led to her death sentence. Pike, now 50, was convicted of the 1995 torture and killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, committed when Pike was 18; she would have been Tennessee’s first woman executed in more than 200 years. The stay came after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene and Gov. Bill Lee denied clemency; it remains unclear how long the delay will last or whether state officials will challenge it.