10 Needles Used Before Lethal Drug Reached Pike in Tennessee

Tennessee execution staff used approximately 10 needles to establish IV lines in Christa Pike's arms before administering lethal drugs, according to a court filing.

Pike, 50, was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time and became one of the youngest women sentenced to death in the state. The state attempted to execute her on Sept. 30 using a protocol that requires two doses of pentobarbital.

Attorney Randy Spivey detailed the medical process in a document filed on Thursday. He wrote that the IV team struggled to find working veins on both of Pike's arms. The team began placing the required lines at 6:34 p.m. An IV in her right arm was set in about six minutes. The left arm took nearly an hour.

Spivey noted that Pike was wincing and grimacing as staff moved needles around in her left arm. At 6:57 p.m., one team member said a vein might be blowing. By 7:07 p.m., another member stated, I think it's blown. A needle removed from the site appeared severely bent. The team declared the left IV successful at 7:13 p.m.

Phone calls to the execution chamber started about five minutes later. Spivey reported that staff 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. She continued speaking with a spiritual adviser before making an agitated snoring sound.

Over the next 30 minutes, Pike strained and appeared to struggle to breathe, Spivey wrote. He requested a phone to call colleagues but was taken on a seven-minute route through the facility. At 8:22 p.m., he called attorneys to stop the execution, noting that a third dose is not authorized. He told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care.

Spivey was told at 8:50 p.m. that an ambulance was on the way. About 20 minutes later, he was informed that medical staff were performing life-saving measures. An ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m. Pike was placed on a ventilator for several days. Her attorneys did not expect her to live at one point. She regained consciousness and has since returned to prison after being discharged.

The filing was submitted in a separate case where death row inmates are challenging 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. Tennessee's protocol does not specify what happens if a person survives the second injection.