Tennessee Execution: Court filing details the 10-needle struggle that left Christa Pike hospitalized

Christa Pike, 50, spent several days on a ventilator after surviving a state-run execution attempt in September. She is back in prison, but a court filing submitted this week provides the most granular account yet of the procedure that left her in critical condition. The document details how the medical team struggled for nearly an hour to establish the necessary intravenous lines, with team members voicing concerns that her veins might have ruptured before the drug was even pushed.

The timeline of the attempt began at 6:34 p.m. on Sept. 30. Tennessee protocol requires two IV lines for a lethal injection. According to attorney Randy Spivey, the team placed an IV in Pike’s right arm within six minutes. The left arm proved far more difficult. Spivey wrote that team members used about 10 needles in total, trying various sites on both arms. Pike, who was conscious and aware of the process, even suggested they look in her upper arm for a usable vein.

The struggle in her left arm continued for almost an hour. Spivey noted that Pike was wincing and grimacing as the team moved needles around. At 6:57 p.m., one member stated that a vein might be blowing, though two others were unsure. A later needle appeared severely bent when removed. By 7:07 p.m., a team member declared, I think it's blown. The group declared the IV successfully placed at 7:13 p.m.

Pike was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time of the crime, which made her one of the youngest women ever sentenced to death in Tennessee. The state’s protocol mandates a second dose of pentobarbital if the first fails to cause death. It does not specify what happens if a person survives the second injection, a gap that became critical during the Sept. 30 attempt.

Phone calls to the execution chamber started about five minutes after the IVs were set. Spivey observed that team members in the adjoining room, who were responsible for pushing the drug, repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike’s left arm. The exact moment the pentobarbital entered the lines is unclear. However, at 7:34 p.m., Pike told her spiritual adviser, I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns.

Approximately 10 minutes later, Pike began making an agitated snoring sound. Over the next 30 minutes, Spivey reported that she strained, flinched, moved her head, and appeared to struggle to breathe. When he requested a phone to call his colleagues, he was not allowed to use the device in the witness room. Instead, he was taken on a seven-minute route through the facility to make the call.

At 8:22 p.m., Spivey called other attorneys to halt the execution, noting that a third dose is not authorized. He also told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care. At 8:50 p.m., he was informed an ambulance was en route. About 20 minutes later, he was told that medical staff were performing life-saving measures. An ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m.

The filing was submitted in a separate case where death row inmates are challenging Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures. Kit Thomas, an attorney representing those inmates, said the incident confirmed long-held fears about the state’s protocol. Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, Thomas said, and will continue to come true, without substantial change.

Pike was discharged from the hospital after regaining consciousness. Her attorneys had briefly feared for her life while she was on the ventilator. The state has not announced changes to its procedure in light of the new details regarding the IV complications and the vein damage reported by the execution team.