Court halts execution of Christa Gail Pike in Tennessee for a murder she committed at age 18

Source: New York Post

Tennessee’s execution of Christa Gail Pike for a murder she committed at age 18 was halted Wednesday about an hour before it was set to begin, as a federal appeals court sought to review whether her allegations of childhood sexual abuse and rape were fully considered at her sentencing. This would have been the state’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years. 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.