Christa Gail Pike. Credit: Tennessee Department of Corrections

The first female scheduled to be executed in two centuries in Tennessee has received a reprieve after so-called “serious concerns” emerged.

As NBC News reported, the Sixth Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted convicted murderer Christa Pike a stay of execution roughly an hour before it was scheduled to be carried out.

The stay came after a judge agreed to consider whether the sexual abuse Pike suffered as a child was considered when she was first sentenced.

Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch said her decision was a “short stay of execution” while the argument is reviewed.

“The court has stayed this, recognizing the serious concerns about Christa’s scheduled execution,” stated Stephen Ferrell of the Federal Defenders Services of Eastern Tennessee.

NBC notes that the Supreme Court appeared to be Pike’s remaining chance for a reprieve after Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he was upholding her death sentence “after deliberate consideration.”

The Court denied her petition Tuesday evening.

Regardless of the horrors of Pike’s past, the horrific crime that she committed in January 1995 near the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is absolutely worthy of the death penalty.

Here are the details via the Daily Mail:

Pike was convicted at the age of 18 in March 1996 for brutally stabbing and beating Knoxville Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer to death.

Her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, and an accomplice, Shadolla Peterson, also helped lure Slemmer to a wooded area before the couple tortured her to death.

The pair carved a pentagram into the teen’s chest, and Peterson testified that he saw Pike also carve something into Slemmer’s head, police evidence showed. Pike also took a piece of her skull as a souvenir, according to investigators.

Slemmer attempted to run for her life, but the couple captured her again and continued the gruesome torture that lasted about 30 minutes to an hour, Pike estimated.

The Daily Mail also notes that Pike demanded earlier this month that she be spared a lethal injection because of her Buddhist beliefs.

She instead requested that an all-female firing squad carry out her execution.

The post Execution of Murderess in Tennessee HALTED by Court After “Serious Concerns” Are Raised – Would Have Been First Woman Executed in State in Over 200 Years appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.