Judges explain why death row killer Christa Pike's scheduled execution was halted an hour before

A group of judges have shed light on why convicted killer Christa Pike's execution was halted an hour before she was due to die by lethal injection.

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit approved a last-minute plea for a stay of execution earlier today (30 Sept).

Pike's execution had been scheduled for 10 am local time (4 pm in the UK) at Nashville's Riverbend Maximum Security Institution.

Her death would have come over 30 years after she brutally attacked and killed 19-year-old fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer. It would have also made Pike, 50, the first woman to be executed by the state of Tennessee in 200 years.

An hour before Pike was to die, however, her execution was ruled to be stayed until the court issues another order.

Her attorney subsequently told the press: "The court has stayed this, recognising the serious concerns about Christa's scheduled execution."

Pike's execution was halted an one hour before it was due to take place (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

Officials have since explained that the decision was made to provide judges with the time of ascertaining whether Pike's allegations that she was sexual abused and raped as a child were considered when she was sentenced to death in 1996.

Pike was 18 when she, her then-boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and their friend Shadolla Peterson lured Slemmer to an isolated area near the University of Tennessee's Agricultural campus before attacking and killing her.

Pike had been convinced that Slemmer was attempting to steal Shipp from her romantically.

Having been 17 at the time of the crime, Shipp was given life with the possibility of parole, while Peterson pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact, testified against Pike and Shipp, and received six years' probation.

Pike, Shipp and Peterson all received very different sentences (WBIR/NBC)

Pike's lawyers previously filed a clemency petition, arguing that Pike's history of childhood abuse, trauma and mental illness - including being raped at 11, and was raped again by a stranger at 17 - was not properly presented when she was sentenced to death for Slemmer's murder.

They asked asked the governor to commute her sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"I was a mentally ill 18-year-old kid. It took me numerous years to even realize the gravity of what I’d done," Pike herself penned in the petition. "Even more to accept how many lives I affected.

"I took the life of someone’s child, sister, friend. It sickens me now to think I had the ability to commit such a crime."

The plea was rejected by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Monday (28 Sept), however.

Slemmer had been a student at the Job Corps, alongside Pike (First Coast News/ABC)

"After deliberate consideration of Christa Gail Pike's request for clemency, and after a thorough review of the case, I am upholding the sentence of the State of Tennessee and do not plan to intervene," Lee said in a statement.

It hasn't yet been made clear how long it would take for judges to issue a decision on Pike's possible execution after it was halted.

A spokesperson for the Office of Tennessee Attorney General said: "We will continue to advocate for the lawfully-imposed sentence as the courts work through this technical issue.It is common in capital cases for the defence to raise last minute objections following decades of litigation in numerous courts.

"We are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to lift the stay."

Before learning on earlier this week that Lee would reject her clemency plea, Pike wrote a letter to NBC News.

Pike was sentenced at 18 (Cornell Law School)

The contents, shared by her spiritual adviser, explained that regardless of whether her clemency was granted or not, she was 'at peace' with the prospect of dying after more than three decades on death row.

The handwritten letter began with the American extending her 'gratitude to everyone who has supported [her] through hard days'.

"I’ve felt more love in the last two weeks than I have my entire life. Though there was an absence - when my people showed up for me - they have showed up and showed out!" she continued. "I am humbled beyond words. Whether my clemency is granted or not, I am at peace. I am not afraid to die.

"I’m only nervous about the process."

Pike, who has been on death row for over three decades, thanked her team for working to 'expose [her] true character' above the 'limited public persona that has been the only narrative'.

Pike's final request for clemency was rejected (Tennessee Department of Corrections)

"Also thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak in my own words," she went on.