“Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun who is perhaps the best-known advocate for abolition of the death penalty in America after her book Dead Man Walking was turned into a film of the same name, told the Guardian that the events on Wednesday night were the definition of cruelty. “This is the essence of cruelty. Take a conscious, imaginative human being, give her a date for her death, have her anticipate it over and over again, and then take her out and try and kill her. She was rendered defenceless as they deliberately attempted to kill her - what greater mental torture for a human being is there?” Prejean added that she hoped the agony Pike had endured “would be redemptive for others, and help to wake up the nation”.”