Christa Pike entering a Knox county criminal court in Knoxville, Tennessee, on 4 December 2007. Photograph: J Miles Cary/ReutersView image in fullscreenChrista Pike entering a Knox county criminal court in Knoxville, Tennessee, on 4 December 2007. Photograph: J Miles Cary/ReutersTennessee halts plan to execute woman for first time in 200 yearsState governor and supreme court earlier refused calls for clemency for Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder
Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in 200 years was halted by a court on Wednesday morning an hour before it was set to take place.
The state governor and the supreme court had earlier refused calls for clemency in the case of Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder 30 years ago.
She was set to die by lethal injection at 11am ET on Wednesday but the execution has been halted by a federal appeals court.
Pike, who is now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend, who was 17 at the time, killed 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, one of their classmates at Knoxville Job Corps in 1995.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
