Tennessee execution team warned Christa Pike's vein might be 'blowing', lawyer says
A declaration from lawyer Randy Spivey describes how the IV team used up to 10 needles and feared Christa Pike's vein had burst before her 30 September execution was called off.
At a glance
- Tennessee's execution team used up to 10 needles and warned Christa Pike's vein might be 'blowing', her lawyer says.
- Pike, 50, survived a full dose of pentobarbital and spent 10 days in hospital; she can now walk and talk.
- Governor Bill Lee has halted all executions in Tennessee pending a review of the failed attempts.
Tennessee's execution team repeatedly warned that Christa Pike's vein might be "blowing" as they tried to place an intravenous line to deliver a lethal dose of pentobarbital, according to a new account from her lawyer, Randy Spivey.
The declaration, released as part of separate legal proceedings, sets out a minute-by-minute chronology of Pike's failed execution on 30 September, which Spivey witnessed in the death chamber in Tennessee.
Nearly an hour to find a vein
Members of the IV team used up to 10 needles as they searched for a line. The attempt began at 6.35pm and was completed at 7.24pm, when the team left the chamber believing everything was going to plan. Pike, 50, remained alive, making snoring and choking sounds.
At 6.53pm a team member named by Spivey as "member two" first raised the fear that Pike's vein might be blown. The team discarded the 20-gauge needle it had been using, asking for the longest one available. At 6.57pm member two repeated that the vein "might be blowing". Spivey's account says member two and a third IV team member inspected the insertion site and poked it, and both said they "can't tell".
Two minutes later the team agreed a line had been established, only to find it was not working properly. Member two pulled the needle from Pike's left arm, saying "I need to work again"; Spivey records that it "appeared to be severely bent". At 7.08pm member two called for the team to "regroup", and they returned to Pike's right arm. At 7.13pm he told Pike they "have it", and the pentobarbital injection was set to begin.
At 7.34pm, according to the chronology, Pike cried out: "I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns."
The execution was called off. Pike spent 10 days in hospital before being returned to prison in Nashville. She can now talk and walk, though her long-term prognosis is unknown. She is the only prisoner in modern times to survive a full dose of a lethal injection drug.
Doubts before the drug flowed
The account suggests the IV team was troubled by doubt before the drug was administered. The reported warnings about a blown vein lend weight to a prominent theory of how the execution failed: had the pentobarbital reached her bloodstream at such an extreme dose she would almost certainly have died, but if the vein burst the drug would have been diverted into her arm tissue, injuring her severely without killing her.
Spivey's chronology is attached as an exhibit to a new legal motion filed on behalf of Tony Carruthers and other death row prisoners. Tennessee tried to execute Carruthers on 21 May, but he also survived after the team failed to find a vein in more than 30 minutes. His lawyers have asked the Davidson county chancery court for permission to file a supplemental complaint challenging the state's lethal injection protocol, following an initial complaint in March 2025.
Kit Thomas, an attorney for the death row plaintiffs, said the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Attorney General's Office had "doubled down on secrecy" instead of addressing problems identified in 2025, resulting in "extreme pain and suffering for our clients".
The failed executions have prompted nationwide debate about the death penalty and led Tennessee's Republican governor, Bill Lee, to halt all executions in the state pending a review.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her friend Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time and spent almost three decades in solitary confinement.
Source: The Guardian.
Questions and answers
- What happened during Christa Pike's execution?
- Her lawyer's account says the IV team used up to 10 needles and nearly an hour to find a vein, at times warning the vein might be 'blowing'. Pike survived the pentobarbital dose and the execution was called off.
- Why did Christa Pike survive her lethal injection?
- One prominent theory is that her vein burst, so the pentobarbital was diverted into her arm tissue instead of her bloodstream, causing severe injuries but not death. She spent 10 days in hospital.
- Are executions paused in Tennessee?
- Yes. Republican governor Bill Lee called off all executions in the state pending a review after Pike's failed execution in September and Tony Carruthers's failed execution on 21 May.
