In a public statement released on Thursday, the UN body emphasized that the prolonged physical and mental suffering resulting from multiple unsuccessful execution attempts is cruel and abhorrent. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged state authorities to halt all further efforts to execute Pike, while raising concerns over unresolved fair trial questions and a broader rise in capital punishment across the United States, Anadolu Agency reported.
Pike, who was convicted in 1996 for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row. Defense attorneys confirmed in a federal court filing that Pike remained alive and conscious after receiving two syringes of lethal injection drugs late Wednesday evening. Medical personnel were dispatched to the prison, though her immediate condition was not publicly disclosed.
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The botched procedure prompted Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to order an independent, comprehensive review of state execution protocols and suspend all scheduled capital punishment through the end of the year. Despite the pause, officials from the Tennessee Department of Correction maintained that prison personnel strictly adhered to established guidelines throughout the execution process.
The attempt took place shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a federal appeals court stay, clearing the way for what would have been Tennessee’s first execution of a female inmate in more than two centuries.
