Ten Needles: Tennessee's IV struggles during failed execution
Court documents reveal that medical staff struggled to find working veins in Christa Pike's arms, with one member warning that a vessel might have ruptured before the lethal dose was given.
By Aiko Soto ·
Ten needles. That is how many times a medical team in Tennessee tried to find a working vein in Christa Pike's arms during a botched execution attempt. Her attorney, Randy Spivey, filed a court document on Thursday that details the chaos. The filing offers the most comprehensive account yet of the procedure that left Pike hospitalized.
Pike, 50, was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of a classmate. She was 18 at the time and became one of the youngest women to receive a death sentence. The state attempted to execute her on September 30. Tennessee law requires a second dose of pentobarbital if the first fails to kill the inmate. However, the protocol does not specify what should happen if a person survives both injections.
Spivey wrote that the team started placing the two required IVs at 6:34 p.m. They had significant trouble. Pike suggested looking in her upper arm to help. One line was placed in her right arm in six minutes. The left arm took nearly an hour. Spivey noted that Pike was wincing and grimacing as staff moved needles around. At 6:57 p.m., one team member said a vein might be blowing. Two others were unsure. A later needle appeared severely bent when it was removed. By 7:07 p.m., another member said, I think it's blown. They finally confirmed a successful IV in the left arm at 7:13 p.m.
Phone calls to the chamber began shortly after. Spivey said staff pushing the drug from an adjoining room repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike's left arm. It is unclear when the drug entered the lines. At 7:34 p.m., Pike said, I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns. About ten minutes later, she began making an agitated snoring sound. Over the next 30 minutes, she strained, flinched, and struggled to breathe.
Spivey requested a phone to stop the execution. He was not allowed to use the one in the witness room. Instead, he was taken on a seven-minute route through the facility. He called colleagues at 8:22 p.m. and asked them to halt the procedure. He noted that a third dose is not authorized. He also told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate care. At 8:50 p.m., he was told an ambulance was coming. Medical staff began life-saving measures about 20 minutes later. An ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m.
The filing is part of a separate legal challenge to Tennessee's lethal injection procedures. Kit Thomas, an attorney for other death row inmates, reacted to the new details. She said, Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, and will continue to come true, without substantial change. Pike regained consciousness after being on a ventilator for several days. At one point, her legal team did not expect her to survive. She has since been discharged and returned to prison.
The case will proceed in court as the challenge to the state's protocol continues. Legal teams are using the new evidence to argue that the current methods are flawed. The outcome could change how future executions are carried out in Tennessee. The next steps depend on the judge's ruling on the pending motions.
