Pike execution involved 10 needle attempts

A court filing released on Thursday details the medical challenges faced during the attempted execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee. The document, submitted by attorney Randy Spivey, provides the most granular account yet of the September 30 procedure that left Pike hospitalized.

The execution team struggled to establish the two intravenous lines required by the state's protocol. Spivey reported that the team used approximately 10 needles and attempted several sites on both of Pike's arms. They even encountered difficulty pushing saline through the final IV site they successfully set up.

The process began at 6:34 p.m. while Pike was in the execution chamber. An IV was placed in her right arm in about six minutes, but the team spent nearly an hour working on her left arm. Spivey noted that Pike was wincing and grimacing as the team moved needles around, and that team members frequently voiced doubts about their progress.

Specific concerns arose regarding the integrity of Pike's veins. At 6:57 p.m., one team member stated a vein might be blowing, though two others could not confirm. A later needle appeared severely bent upon removal. At 7:07 p.m., another member said, "I think it's blown." The team declared the left IV successfully placed at 7:13 p.m.

Phone calls to the execution chamber started about five minutes after the IV placement. Spivey said the team members pushing the drug from an adjoining room repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike's left arm. It is unclear exactly when the pentobarbital entered the lines, but at 7:34 p.m., Pike said, "I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns."

After speaking with her spiritual adviser for about 10 minutes, Pike began making an agitated snoring sound. Over the next 30 minutes, she strained, flinched, and appeared to struggle to breathe, according to Spivey. He requested a phone to coordinate with colleagues but was led on a seven-minute route through the facility instead of being given a phone in the witness room.

At 8:22 p.m., Spivey called fellow attorneys and asked them to stop the execution because a third dose of pentobarbital is not authorized. He told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care. By 8:50 p.m., he was told an ambulance was en route, and medical staff began life-saving measures about 20 minutes later. An ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during the attempt. She was convicted in the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer when she was 18. Tennessee's protocol does not specify what should happen if a person survives the second injection. Pike was placed on a ventilator for several days and has since returned to prison after being discharged from the hospital.

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