A federal appeals court halted the execution in Tennessee 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. A phone message and email were left with a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office seeking comment.
Execution witnesses had already gathered at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville when the order came down at around 9 a.m. CDT.
