US appeals court pauses execution of Tennessee killer Christa Pike

The execution of Christa Pike was halted by a US appeals court just an hour before it was scheduled to take place. ( Tennessee Department of Correction via AP )

A US appeals court has paused the execution of Tennessee woman Christa Gail Pike an hour before it was scheduled to go ahead.

The execution would have been the first time a woman had been subjected to the death penalty in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of stabbing and beating a 19-year-old woman in 1995.

The US state of Tennessee's first execution of a woman in at least 200 years has been halted by an appeals court just an hour before it was set to begin, after a federal appeals court sought a review of case details.

Christa Gail Pike was set to be executed by legal injection on Wednesday morning, local time, for a murder she committed at age 18.

Pike, now 50, and her boyfriend were convicted of stabbing and beating 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at a job training facility in Knoxville in 1995.

But the federal appeals court is now seeking to review whether her allegations of childhood sexual abuse and rape were fully considered at her sentencing.

本文の著作権はABC Australiaにあります。