Tennessee Execution: IV Team Used Ten Needles Before Halting Procedure

Tennessee execution team members used approximately ten needles to establish intravenous lines in the arms of death row inmate Christa Pike before administering lethal drugs, according to a court filing submitted Thursday.

The document, prepared by attorney Randy Spivey, provides a minute-by-minute account of the Sept. 30 procedure. The team began attempting to place the two required IVs at 6:34 p.m. An IV was established in Pike’s right arm within six minutes, but securing the line in her left arm took nearly an hour.

Spivey noted that Pike assisted by suggesting the team look in her upper arm for a usable vein. He described Pike as wincing and grimacing while team members moved needles around her left arm. At 6:57 p.m., one team member stated a vein might be blowing, though two others could not determine the status. A later needle appeared severely bent upon removal. At 7:07 p.m., a team member said, "I think it's blown." The team declared the IV successfully placed at 7:13 p.m.

Phone calls to the execution chamber began about five minutes after the IV placement. Spivey reported that team members in the adjoining room repeatedly asked the IV team to check Pike’s left arm. It is unclear when the pentobarbital entered the lines, but at 7:34 p.m., Pike stated, "I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns."

Pike, 50, continued to speak with her spiritual adviser for about 10 minutes before making an agitated snoring sound. Over the next 30 minutes, she strained, flinched, moved her head, and appeared to struggle to breathe. Spivey requested a phone to coordinate a halt to the execution but was led on a seven-minute route through the facility instead of being allowed to use a phone in the witness room.

At 8:22 p.m., Spivey called fellow attorneys to stop the procedure, noting that a third dose of pentobarbital is not authorized by protocol. He then told the deputy attorney general that Pike needed immediate medical care. Tennessee’s protocol calls for a second dose if the first does not cause death but does not specify actions if a person survives the second injection.

Spivey was informed at 8:50 p.m. that an ambulance was en route. About 20 minutes later, he was told medical staff were performing life-saving measures. An ambulance arrived at the hospital at 9:14 p.m. Pike had been convicted in the 1995 stabbing death of Colleen Slemmer. She was placed on a ventilator for several days after the failed execution and has since returned to prison.