A federal appeals court Wednesday morning halted the execution of the lone woman on Tennessee’s death row about an before it was scheduled to occur.
\n\nIn a last-minute decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District said it needed to review claims that Christa Pike’s legal team made in a bid to stop her execution.
\n\n“The interests of justice and the finality of Pike’s impending execution compel the entry of a short stay of execution in order to properly analyze the parties’ fully briefed arguments and resolve the issues on the merits,” the court said.
\n\nIt’s unclear how long the execution may be halted for. It was scheduled for 10 a.m. local time in Nashville.
\n\nBoth Gov. Bill Lee and the Supreme Court had said they would not stop Pike’s execution.
\n\nBefore learning Monday that Lee would not be intervening in her case, Pike, 50, wrote in a letter to NBC News, shared by her spiritual adviser: “Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace.”
\n\n“I am not afraid to die,” wrote Pike, who has been on death row for over three decades. “I’m only nervous about the process.”
\n\nIf executed, Pike would be the…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/