Make New York Post a Preferred Source A federal appeals court halted the execution in Tennessee of Christa Pike about an hour before it was set to begin Wednesday.
The judges said they want to review whether her allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child were fully considered before she was sentenced to death.
Now 50, she was convicted of a 1995 murder she committed at age 18. This would have been the state’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
Christa Gail Pike appears remotely from Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation for her hearing in Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 11, 2026. Pike was set to be executed Sept. 30 for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect Christa Gail Pike, who was sentenced to death for killing Colleen Slemmer, is shown in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Jan. 1, 1996. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect It wasn’t immediately clear if Tennessee’s attorney general was appealing the decision or how long the execution might be delayed.
A phone message and email were left with a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office seeking comment.
Execution witnesses had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the order came down at around 9 a.m. CDT.
