Tennessee Execution Team Warned of Vein Rupture Before Injecting Pike

A court document filed on Thursday provides a granular timeline of the medical difficulties encountered during the attempted execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. The filing asserts that members of the execution team warned that Pike’s veins might have ruptured, or "blown," before the lethal drug was administered. This account represents the most detailed description yet of the procedure that left the 50-year-old inmate hospitalized.

Attorney Randy Spivey detailed the process in the document, which was submitted in a separate case challenging the state's lethal injection protocols. Spivey wrote that the IV team used approximately ten needles and attempted to establish lines at several sites on both of Pike’s arms. Despite these efforts, the team reported trouble pushing saline through the final IV site they established. The struggle began at 6:34 p.m. when the team started trying to place the two IVs required by Tennessee’s protocol.

Pike assisted the team by suggesting they look in her upper arm for a usable vein. An IV was successfully set in her right arm within about six minutes. The left arm, however, took nearly an hour to complete. Spivey described Pike as "wincing and grimacing" while team members moved needles around the limb. The medical staff frequently voiced doubts about their progress. At 6:57 p.m., one member stated a vein "might be blowing," although two others could not confirm the damage.

A later needle appeared severely bent when it was removed. At 7:07 p.m., a team member declared, "I think it's blown." The group decided at 7:13 p.m. that an IV was successfully placed in her left arm. Phone calls to the execution chamber began approximately five minutes later. Spivey noted that team members pushing the drug from an adjoining room seemed to request that the IV team check Pike's left arm repeatedly. It remains unclear exactly when the pentobarbital entered the lines.

At 7:34 p.m., Pike reported a burning sensation, saying, "I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns." She continued speaking with her spiritual adviser for about 10 minutes before making an "agitated snoring sound." Over the next 30 minutes, Spivey wrote that Pike strained, flinched, moved her head, and appeared to struggle to breathe. When Spivey requested to use a phone, he was led on a seven-minute route through the facility instead of being allowed to use the phone in the witness room.

At 8:22 p.m., Spivey called fellow attorneys to request a stop to the execution, noting that a third dose was not authorized. He then told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care. By 8:50 p.m., Spivey was informed that an ambulance was en route. Approximately 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.

Pike was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 years old at the time of the crime and became one of the youngest women sentenced to death in the state. Tennessee’s protocol calls for a second dose of pentobarbital if the first does not cause death, but it does not specify procedures for survivors of the second injection. After the Sept. 30 attempt, Pike was placed on a ventilator for several days. Her attorneys did not expect her to survive at one point. She has since regained consciousness and returned to prison after being discharged from the hospital.

Kit Thomas, an attorney representing other death row inmates in the procedural challenge, commented on the filing. He stated, "Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, and will continue to come true, without substantial change."