Pike Execution: Court Filing Details 10 Needle Attempts

Tennessee execution officials struggled for nearly an hour to establish an IV line in Christa Pike's left arm before injecting her with a second dose of pentobarbital.

A court filing submitted Thursday by attorney Randy Spivey outlines the medical difficulties during the Sept. 30 attempt. The document states that the IV team used approximately 10 needles and tried multiple sites on both of Pike's arms. Spivey wrote that the team had trouble pushing saline through the final site they established.

Pike, 50, was convicted of the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time of the crime and became one of the youngest women ever sentenced to death in the state. Tennessee's lethal injection protocol requires a second dose of pentobarbital if the first does not cause death, but it does not specify procedures if a person survives the second injection.

After the failed attempt, Pike was placed on a ventilator for several days. Her attorneys initially feared she would not survive, but she regained consciousness and has since returned to prison after her hospital discharge.

Spivey detailed the timeline of the IV placement. The team began trying to place the required lines at 6:34 p.m. Pike suggested they look in her upper arm for a usable vein. An IV was set in her right arm in about six minutes, but the left arm took nearly an hour. Spivey noted that Pike was "wincing and grimacing" as team members moved needles around. At 6:57 p.m., one team member said a vein "might be blowing." A later needle appeared severely bent when removed, and at 7:07 p.m., another member said, "I think it's blown." The team declared the IV successful at 7:13 p.m.

Phone calls to the execution chamber started about five minutes later. Spivey said team members 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." About 10 minutes later, after speaking with her spiritual adviser, she began making an "agitated snoring sound."

Over the next 30 minutes, Pike strained and moved her head while appearing to struggle to breathe, according to Spivey. He was taken on a seven-minute route through the facility to use a phone rather than using the one in the witness room. At 8:22 p.m., he called fellow attorneys to ask them to stop the execution, noting a third dose is not authorized. He then told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care. An ambulance was reported on the way at 8:50 p.m., and medical staff were performing life-saving measures about 20 minutes later. The ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m.