The execution of a Tennessee woman on death row since 1995 has been called off at the last moment.
A federal appeals court put a stop to the execution of Christa Pike about an hour before it was set to begin Wednesday.
The judges said they want to review whether her allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child were fully considered before she was sentenced to death.
Now 50, she was convicted of a 1995 murder she committed at age 18. This would have been the state’s first execution of a woman in at least 200 years.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Tennessee’s attorney general was appealing the decision or how long the execution might be delayed.
Execution witnesses had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the order came down at around 9am local time.
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