Politics
Tennessee execution attempt raises questions after repeated IV failures, court filing says
A court filing by Christa Pike’s attorney says execution staff struggled to establish IV lines and warned that some veins may have ruptured before injections were given. Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during Tennessee’s Sept. 30 execution attempt and was hospitalized.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee execution team members tried repeatedly to place working IV lines in Christa Pike’s arms before the state attempted to execute her Sept. 30, and warned that some veins may have ruptured, according to a court filing by her attorney.
Attorney Randy Spivey wrote that the team used about 10 needles and tried several sites on both arms. Staff also had difficulty pushing saline through the final IV line they established, the filing says. The concerns came before Pike was injected with pentobarbital, the drug Tennessee uses for lethal injection.
Pike, 50, survived two doses and was taken to a hospital, where she spent several days on a ventilator. Her attorneys at one point feared she would not survive. She later regained consciousness and was returned to prison after being discharged.
The state’s execution protocol calls for a second dose if the first does not cause death, but does not specify what officials should do if a person survives the second injection. The failed attempt has intensified scrutiny of Tennessee’s execution procedures and the safeguards governing them.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the crime, which she committed with her boyfriend, according to the case background provided in the filing coverage.