The execution of 50-year-old Christy Gail Pike was halted at the last moment by a federal appeals court in the USA. Pike was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday. The decision came approximately one hour before the planned execution, with witnesses already assembled at the prison. Authorities in Tennessee have appealed to the Supreme Court of the USA to overturn this ruling. The case marks a significant development in capital punishment proceedings within the country. This stay prevents Pike from becoming the first woman executed in over 200 years in the USA. The future of the execution now rests with the highest court.