Tennessee execution team reports vein damage

A court document filed Thursday reveals that members of the Tennessee execution team warned Christa Pike that her veins might have ruptured before administering the lethal drug. The filing provides the most detailed account to date of the September 30 attempt on Pike's life.

Attorney Randy Spivey stated that the medical team used approximately 10 needles and attempted 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 IV team began placing the two lines required by protocol at 6:34 p.m.

Spivey described Pike as wincing and grimacing while staff moved needles in her left arm. At 6:57 p.m., one team member said a vein might be blowing, though two others were unsure. A later needle appeared severely bent upon removal, and at 7:07 p.m., a member stated, I think it is blown. The team decided at 7:13 p.m. that an IV was successfully placed.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during the execution attempt. She was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator for several days. Her attorneys did not expect her to survive at one point. She has since regained consciousness and returned to prison after being discharged from the hospital.

The filing was submitted in a separate case where death row inmates are challenging the state's lethal injection procedures. Kit Thomas, an attorney for the challengers, said the predictions about botched executions have come true and will continue without substantial change. Tennessee's protocol calls for a second dose if the first fails but does not specify what happens if a person survives the second injection.

Pike was convicted in 1995 for the stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time and tortured and killed Slemmer with her boyfriend. She became one of the youngest women ever sentenced to death in Tennessee. The execution chamber phone calls began about five minutes after the IV placement.

Spivey said the team members pushing the drug from an adjoining room seemed to ask the IV team to check Pike's left arm repeatedly. It is unclear when the pentobarbital entered the lines. At 7:34 p.m., Pike said, I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns. She continued speaking with her spiritual adviser for about 10 minutes before 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 was taken on a seven-minute route through the facility to use a phone rather than using the one in the witness room. At 8:22 p.m., he called fellow attorneys to stop the execution, noting a third dose is not authorized, and told the deputy attorney general 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 was seen arriving at the hospital at 9:14 p.m.