US appeals court halts execution of Tennessee woman

A US federal appeals court on Wednesday halted the scheduled execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee, postponing what would have been the state’s first execution of a female inmate in more than 200 years, The Tennessean reported.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed the execution “until further order of this court”. Stephen Ferrell of the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee said the court had cited “serious concerns” about the case.

Execution postponed pending further court order

Pike, 50, had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 10 a.m. local time (1500 GMT) at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

She was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. Pike remains the only female prisoner on Tennessee’s death row.

Governor previously denied clemency

The judicial stay came after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee upheld the sentence and denied clemency on Monday.