Execution of US murderer Christa Pike halted shortly before it was due to happen
17 minutes ago
The execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike has been halted just over an hour before it was due to happen.
Pike, 50, has been awaiting execution since she was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer.
In their ruling on Wednesday, judges from the Sixth Circuit Appeals court said they needed more time to consider the arguments in Pike's case. It is unclear how long the pause will last.
This latest ruling comes after the Supreme Court denied a reprieve and the Tennessee governor declined to grant Pike's request for clemency earlier this week.
Her lawyers said that for years, the state of Tennessee argued in court that Pike had lied about being sexually abused as a child.
But at a recent hearing about her execution method, the State said it does not dispute she suffered sexual abuse and rape.
Pike's legal team asked the appeals court to send her motion back to the district court, arguing that if the federal courts based their ruling on the state's earlier claim that she was lying, then the federal review was affected.
The appeal that led to Wednesday's stay is different from that made to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear Pike's appeal.
Copyright for this text belongs to BBC.