Tennessee execution team faced IV complications in Christa Pike case

Tennessee execution personnel struggled to establish intravenous lines in the arms of Christa Pike before administering lethal drugs, according to a court document filed Thursday. The filing provides a minute-by-minute account of the procedures used during the Sept. 30 attempt, which Pike survived.

Attorney Randy Spivey detailed that the medical team used approximately 10 needles and tested multiple sites on both of Pike's arms. He noted that the team encountered difficulty pushing saline through the final IV site they established. The protocol required two functional IVs, a standard for the state's lethal injection method.

Pike, 50, was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. At the time of the crime, she was 18 and acted with her boyfriend. She became one of the youngest women to receive a death sentence. The state's current protocol mandates a second dose of pentobarbital if the first does not cause death but offers no specific guidance if a prisoner survives the second injection.

Spivey wrote that the IV placement began at 6:34 p.m. The right arm line was set in about six minutes, while the left arm took nearly an hour. Pike assisted by suggesting the team examine her upper arm for usable veins. The attorney described her as wincing and grimacing during the process.

Team members expressed uncertainty about the condition of her veins. At 6:57 p.m., one member stated a vein might be blowing, though two others could not confirm. A later needle appeared severely bent upon removal. By 7:07 p.m., a team member declared, I think it's blown. The group concluded at 7:13 p.m. that the left arm IV was successfully placed.

Phone communications started about five minutes after the IVs were set. Spivey reported that team members administering the drug from an adjoining room repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike's left arm. Pike stated at 7:34 p.m., I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns. She later began making an agitated snoring sound while speaking with her spiritual adviser.

Over the next 30 minutes, Pike strained, flinched, and moved her head. She appeared to struggle to breathe, Spivey said. He was denied use of a phone in the witness room and was instead led on a seven-minute route through the facility to call colleagues. At 8:22 p.m., he requested the execution be stopped, noting that a third dose is not authorized, and told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care.

Spivey was informed at 8:50 p.m. that an ambulance was en route. Twenty minutes later, he was told medical staff were performing life-saving measures. The ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m. Pike was placed on a ventilator for several days and has since returned to prison. In a separate challenge to Tennessee's procedures, attorney Kit Thomas said, Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, and will continue to come true, without substantial change.