Federal appeals court stays Christa Pike execution with hours to spare

Christa Pike's execution was temporarily halted by a US appeals court, just hours before it was scheduled to take place. According to CBS News, this stay of execution was granted, making Pike not the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in over 200 years, at least for now.

The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals, as reported by the South China Morning Post, ordered a "short stay of execution". This was done to review Pike's claims that her history of severe childhood sexual abuse, as mentioned in the France 24 report, was not adequately considered during her sentencing.

The execution was halted just an hour before it was scheduled, with multiple outlets confirming it would have been a historic event as the first woman executed in Tennessee in over 200 years, as reported by ABC News AU and CBS News. The stay is temporary and does not cancel the execution, as per the Hindustan Times - World News.

Brief written by urgent.news from CBS News, Hindustan Times - World News, ABC News AU, France 24, South China Morning Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.