UN Human Rights Office calls botched lethal injection of Christa Pike ‘abhorrent’ and ‘cruel’

NASHVILLE (WSMV/Gray News) — The failed execution of Tennessee’s only woman on death row, 50-year-old Christa Pike, is ringing alarm bells for one of the most prominent international human rights organizations.

The United Nations Human Rights Office is condemning Tennessee’s failed attempt at an execution on Wednesday night.

“The prolonged suffering – physical and mental – arising from multiple failed execution attempts is abhorrent and cruel. And there are key fair trial questions still unresolved,” a post from the organization said.

Witnesses said that, after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, Pike did not die. Her breathing was labored and sounded like “snoring,” they said, and at one point she asked prison staff “if it was supposed to feel that way.”

An ambulance responded to Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville following the botched lethal injection.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk is now calling for Tennessee to no longer pursue executing Pike.

The UN office pointed to a larger trend in the U.S., saying it is “troubled” by an uptick in executions.

“The death penalty has no place in any society,” the UN Human Rights Office said.

Pike was still in the hospital Thursday, and her lawyers said they did not know her long-term chance for recovery.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted of the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a classmate. The killing stoked fears of Satan worship because of a pentagram carved on Slemmer’s body.

She did not dispute that she helped kill Slemmer, but supporters argued that her mental illness and allegations of severe sexual abuse should be considered. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder after the killing.