Execution staff warned of possibility some of Christa Pike's veins had 'blown': attorney

During an attempted execution in Tennessee, the execution staff faced multiple challenges while attempting to establish working IV lines in Christa Pike's arms. In a court document filed by Pike's attorney, Randy Spivey, it was revealed that the team went through approximately 10 needles and tried several IV sites on both of Pike's arms.

They struggled to push saline through the last IV site they established. Pike, who was 50 at the time, survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state attempted to execute her on September 30th, 2021, for the 1995 stabbing death of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer. Pike was 18 when she tortured and killed Slemmer with her boyfriend, making her one of the youngest women to receive a death sentence.

Despite the failed execution, Tennessee protocol calls for a second dose of pentobarbital if the first dose does not result in death, but it does not specify what to do if a person survives the second injection. After being hospitalized, Pike was placed on a ventilator for several days, and her attorneys initially did not expect her to survive.

However, she eventually regained consciousness and was discharged from the hospital. The execution has sparked renewed scrutiny over the state's methods of carrying out death sentences.