Christa Pike, shortly after the murder. Photo / Knox County Sheriff’s Department
The decision came after the US Supreme Court and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee declined to intervene. According to the BBC, Pike had exhausted several avenues for clemency and legal relief before the last-minute reprieve was granted.
It is unclear how long the execution has been delayed.
Pike’s legal team argued that evidence of severe childhood sexual abuse, neglect and trauma was not properly considered during earlier court proceedings.
Her lawyers have also challenged Tennessee’s lethal injection procedure, arguing that it could cause excessive psychological suffering because of her history of trauma.
Colleen Slemmer was 19 when she was murdered in 1995. Photo / Slemmer family
Before learning the governor would not be intervening in her case, Pike wrote a letter to NBC News saying whether her clemency was granted or not, she was “at peace”.
“I am not afraid to die,” Pike wrote in the letter. “I’m only nervous about the process.”
Pike has spent more than three decades on death row.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti described the stay as a technical matter and said the state would continue seeking to carry out what he called a lawfully imposed sentence, the BBC reported.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996. Shipp, 17 at the time of the murder, received a life sentence because he was a juvenile, while a third participant received probation after co-operating with authorities.