Appeals court halts Christa Pike execution shortly before it was due

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals halted Christa Pike’s scheduled execution in Tennessee about an hour before it was due, saying it needed more time to consider arguments in her case.

Pike’s lawyers challenged Tennessee’s lethal injection method, arguing it could cause unnecessary suffering and that state procedures denied her a fair chance to contest it. The court’s stay followed earlier refusals by the US Supreme Court to grant a reprieve and Governor Bill Lee to grant clemency.

Tennessee’s attorney general said the state would ask the US Supreme Court to lift the stay. The available reporting does not confirm whether the court has acted on that request.

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time; her lawyers have argued her age and developmental maturity should be considered.

The stay’s duration and whether the execution will ultimately proceed remain unclear.