Christa Pike survived execution attempt in Tennessee, lawyer says

Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during an execution attempt on Sept. 30, after prison execution team members struggled to establish intravenous lines and discussed whether a vein might be blowing, according to a court document filed by her attorney Randy Spivey.

Tennessee Fails to Place IV Lines for Execution

The state of Tennessee attempted to execute the 50-year-old death row inmate for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer. Execution team members began trying to place the two required IV lines at 6:34 p.m., going through about 10 needles across multiple sites on both arms. Pike beat Slemmer to death with a chunk of asphalt.

Warnings Inside the Execution Chamber

Team members repeatedly expressed doubts about the catheter placements. At 6:57 p.m., one team member stated that a vein “might be blowing,” though two others could not tell. The team discarded a 20-gauge needle because it was not long enough before trying another spot. By 7:07 p.m., an IV team member remarked, “I think it’s blown,” while three minutes earlier at 6:57 p.m., another member repeated it “might be blowing”. Spivey reported: “Member two and IV team member 3 inspected the insertion site and poked it.” “One of them said something like, ‘it’s either blood or blown, I need to know,’” Spivey wrote.

The team declared a successful placement in the left arm at 7:13 p.m., taping her hands down and attaching a heart monitor. Pentobarbital was subsequently administered from an adjoining room. It’s not clear exactly when the pentobarbital was pushed.

Burning Pain and Subsequent Hospitalization

At 7:34 p.m., Pike reported severe pain. “I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns,” she stated, according to her attorney. Over the following 30 minutes, she made an agitated snoring sound, strained, flinched, moved her head, and struggled to breathe.

Defense attorneys intervened, and Pike was eventually transported to a hospital, where she remained on a ventilator for several days before regaining consciousness and returning to prison. Kit Thomas, an attorney representing death row inmates, noted that the botched procedure aligned with prior warnings regarding lethal injection protocols. At one point, her attorneys did not expect her to survive. She was discharged and returned to prison after spending the next almost three decades in solitary confinement. The failed executions in May, and Pike’s subsequent survivals, were cited by lawyers. “The result was just as we predicted: extreme pain and suffering for our clients, in botched execution attempts that also inflicted lasting harm on victims’ families, corrections staff, and media witnesses, among others.”

Governor Lee Suspends Executions to Review Protocols

State execution rules do not authorize a third dose of pentobarbital if the first fails to cause death. Bill Lee has suspended all executions while the state reviews its protocols.

Legal analysts and commentators, including true-crime host Nancy Grace, have debated the constitutional and procedural implications of scheduling a subsequent execution attempt, while defense attorneys maintain that a second attempt constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, as reported by The Tennessean. Nancy Grace wants Christa Pike dead. “I want to see the law carried out to the letter of the law,” the popular true-crime host and former prosecutor said. Grace argued with Borghardt about what should happen to Pike. Constitution. “The botched death penalty may give her a legal argument for life,” Borghardt said. Grace shot back, “Under our Constitution, the death penalty is not deemed cruel and unusual.” In her trademark bombastic style Grace called Pike “Sleeping Beauty,” wiped away fake tears and labeled what happens next as “Death Chamber 2.0.” Pike is back at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center awaiting what happens next. And that uncertainty was the focus of Grace’s show.