Tennessee IV team used ten needles before injecting Christa Pike

Christa Pike’s execution team inserted approximately 10 needles into her arms over a period of nearly an hour, a process that concluded only after a member stated a vein had likely ruptured. The details emerged in a court document filed on Thursday by attorney Randy Spivey, providing the most granular account of the failed lethal injection attempt in Tennessee.

Spivey recorded that the team began attempting to place the two required intravenous lines at 6:34 p.m. on September 30. While an IV was secured in Pike’s right arm within six minutes, access to her left arm proved difficult. The team tried multiple sites on both arms, and Spivey noted that even the final site had issues with saline flow. During the procedure, Pike described herself as wincing and grimacing as needles were moved, and team members expressed uncertainty about the status of the veins.

At 6:57 p.m., one team member suggested a vein might be "blowing," though two others were unsure. By 7:07 p.m., a bent needle was removed, and a team member confirmed, "I think it's blown." The team declared the left IV successfully placed at 7:13 p.m. Phone calls to the execution chamber began shortly thereafter, and Spivey observed that staff in the adjoining room repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike’s left arm. At 7:34 p.m., Pike stated, "I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns."

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital, a protocol that does not specify a third dose if the second fails. In the 30 minutes following the initial administration, Spivey reported that Pike strained, flinched, and struggled to breathe. He was denied immediate phone access in the witness room and instead took a seven-minute route to call his colleagues. At 8:22 p.m., he requested the execution be halted and that Pike receive immediate medical care. An ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m., roughly 20 minutes after Spivey was told medical staff were performing life-saving measures.

Pike was convicted of the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer when Pike was 18. She was hospitalized on a ventilator for several days after the September 30 attempt and has since returned to prison. The filing was submitted in a separate case where death row inmates are challenging Tennessee's injection procedures. Attorney Kit Thomas, representing those inmates, said, "Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, and will continue to come true, without substantial change."