A U.S. appeals court halted the execution of death row inmate Christa Pike on Wednesday morning, less than two hours before she was scheduled to be put to death in Tennessee. If the execution had proceeded, Pike would have been the first woman executed by the state in more than 200 years, since at least 1820.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ordered a short stay to allow judges to review claims that Pike's history of severe sexual abuse and childhood abuse were not fully considered during her sentencing. This legal intervention followed previous refusals for clemency by the state governor and the supreme court.
Pike, now 50, was convicted for a brutal 1995 killing of a classmate committed when she was 18. The murder, carried out in a jealous rage and involving torture, made her one of the youngest women sent to death row.
The case has renewed debate over the death penalty for young offenders. Advocates pushing for Pike's life to be spared argue that the state should consider her age at the time of the crime, her mental illness, and the severe abuse she suffered as a child.