Court filing details IV struggles during survivor's failed execution

A newly submitted court document outlines the specific difficulties medical staff faced while preparing for the September 30 execution of Christa Pike. The filing, which arrived on Thursday, provides the most granular look yet at the procedural issues that led to Pike surviving her sentencing date. It highlights how the team repeatedly failed to secure stable intravenous lines and voiced concerns that her veins may have ruptured before the drug was delivered.

The legal team for Pike, led by Randy Spivey, detailed the timeline of events in the prison facility. The medical crew began attempting to insert the two required needles at 6:34 p.m. While a line was established in Pike's right arm within six minutes, the process for her left arm took nearly an hour. Spivey noted that the team utilized approximately ten needles and tried multiple sites on both arms. Even after a final site was selected, the staff reported trouble pushing saline through the line to confirm it was working.

Pike, who is now 50, was convicted of the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate Colleen Slemmer. At the time of the crime, she was 18 years old and acted with a boyfriend. The case made her one of the youngest women to receive a death sentence in history. The state's protocol requires a second dose of pentobarbital if the first does not result in death, but it offers no guidance for what happens if a prisoner survives the second injection. Following the September attempt, Pike was kept on a ventilator for several days. Her lawyers initially feared she might not survive, but she regained consciousness and has since been returned to custody after her hospital discharge.

The specific filing was submitted in a broader legal challenge against Tennessee's lethal injection methods. This separate case involves other individuals on death row who are contesting the state's procedures. Kit Thomas, an attorney representing those challengers, noted that the events involving Pike validated previous warnings. He stated that predictions regarding the likelihood of botched executions have come true and will continue to do so without substantial change in the protocol.

Spivey described the physical discomfort Pike experienced during the preparation phase. She reportedly helped the team by suggesting they search for a usable vein in her upper arm. As members of the team moved needles around her left arm, Pike was wincing and grimacing. Team members frequently voiced doubts about their progress. At 6:57 p.m., one member said a vein might be blowing, though two others could not tell. A later needle appeared severely bent when it was pulled out, and at 7:07 p.m., a team member said, I think it's blown. The group decided at 7:13 p.m. that an IV was successfully placed.

Phone calls to the execution chamber began roughly five minutes after the final line was set. Spivey observed that the team members pushing the drug from an adjoining room seemed to be asking the IV team to check Pike's left arm repeatedly. It is unclear 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. About 10 minutes after continuing to speak with her spiritual adviser, she began making an agitated snoring sound.

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