Tennessee IV Team Used Ten Needles Before Injecting Pike

Ten needles were used in an attempt to establish intravenous lines in the arms of Christa Pike before the lethal drug entered her body, according to a court document filed on Thursday. The filing provides the most detailed account yet of the state's failed execution attempt on September 30.

Attorney Randy Spivey wrote that the medical team struggled to access veins on both of Pike's arms. They began the process at 6:34 p.m. An IV was placed in her right arm within six minutes, but the team spent nearly an hour working on her left arm. Pike, 50, suggested they search her upper arm for a usable vein. Spivey described her as wincing and grimacing while team members moved needles around her skin.

Members of the team voiced doubts about their progress. At 6:57 p.m., one member stated that a vein might be blowing, though two others could not tell. A subsequent needle appeared severely bent when removed. At 7:07 p.m., a team member said, "I think it's blown." The group declared the left IV successfully placed at 7:13 p.m.

Phone calls to the execution chamber began five minutes after that declaration. Spivey noted that 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." About ten minutes later, after speaking with her spiritual adviser, she began making an agitated snoring sound.

Over the next 30 minutes, Pike strained, flinched, and moved her head while appearing to struggle for breath, Spivey said. He requested a phone to contact colleagues but was taken on a seven-minute walk through the facility instead of being 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 because a third dose was not authorized. He then told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care.

An ambulance was reported to be on the way at 8:50 p.m. Medical staff were performing life-saving measures approximately 20 minutes later. The ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m. Pike was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital. She was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer when she was 18 years old.

The filing was submitted in a separate case where death row inmates are challenging Tennessee's lethal injection procedures. Kit Thomas, an attorney representing those inmates, said the predictions about botched executions have come true and will continue without substantial change. Pike has returned to prison after being discharged from the hospital.