Christa Pike's Counsel Details 10 Needle Attempts in Failed Execution

Christa Pike survived a double lethal injection after Tennessee execution staff struggled to insert IV lines, her attorney stated in a new court filing.

Pike, 50, was convicted in the 1995 stabbing death of Colleen Slemmer. At 18, she and her boyfriend tortured and killed their classmate, making Pike one of the youngest women sentenced to death in the state. The state attempted to execute her on Sept. 30. She survived two doses of pentobarbital, a drug that kills in a single shot. Tennessee's protocol mandates a second dose if the first fails, but it does not specify procedures if a prisoner survives both. Pike remained on a ventilator for several days. Her lawyers at one point did not expect her to live. She has since returned to prison after being discharged from the hospital.

Attorney Randy Spivey detailed the mechanics of the failed execution in a document filed Thursday. The team began placing the required IVs at 6:34 p.m. They used approximately 10 needles and tested multiple sites on both arms. Pike suggested they look in her upper arm. An IV was established in her right arm within six minutes. The left arm took nearly an hour. Spivey noted that Pike was wincing and grimacing as staff moved needles. At 6:57 p.m., one team member said a vein might be blowing. A bent needle was removed, and by 7:07 p.m., another member stated, "I think it's blown." The team declared the left IV successful at 7:13 p.m. Phone calls to the execution chamber started five minutes later. Staff pushing the drug from an adjoining room repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike's left arm. At 7:34 p.m., Pike said, "I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns." Ten minutes later, after speaking with a spiritual adviser, she began making an agitated snoring sound. Over the next 30 minutes, she strained, flinched, and struggled to breathe. Spivey was routed through a seven-minute path to use a phone. At 8:22 p.m., he called to stop the execution, citing the lack of authorization for a third dose. He requested immediate medical care. An ambulance was dispatched at 8:50 p.m. and arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m.

The filing was submitted in a separate case where death row inmates are challenging the state's lethal injection procedures. Kit Thomas, an attorney for those inmates, said, "Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, and will continue to come true, without substantial change."