The scheduled execution of Christa Gail Pike has been dramatically halted after a federal appeals court stepped in roughly an hour before Tennessee was expected to put her to death by lethal injection.
Pike, 50, had been scheduled for execution on Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Witnesses had already gathered at the prison when the court issued the last-minute order stopping the execution.
The appeals court said it wants to review whether allegations that Pike endured severe sexual abuse and rape during childhood were adequately considered before she received the death penalty.
Pike was just 18 years old when she participated in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death the following year.
Her attorneys have not disputed her responsibility for Slemmer’s death. Instead, they have argued that Pike’s age at the time of the crime, history of childhood trauma and mental health issues should have received greater consideration when determining her punishment.
The intervention came after other attempts to stop the execution had failed. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee denied Pike’s request for clemency, while the U.S. Supreme Court rejected her application for a stay on September 29, just one day before the scheduled execution.
Had the execution proceeded, Pike would have become the first woman executed by Tennessee in at least 200 years, making the case particularly historic.
Slemmer’s mother has supported carrying out the death sentence and has spoken publicly about waiting decades for the punishment imposed by the court to be completed. Pike, meanwhile, has expressed remorse for the killing and acknowledged the devastating impact of her actions.
For now, Pike remains alive on Tennessee’s death row as the federal appeals court reviews the issues raised by her attorneys.
It was not immediately clear how long the stay would remain in effect or what steps Tennessee prosecutors may take next.
