Two Doses and Still Alive: Harrowing Account of Tennessee's Botched Execution Filed in Court
New court filings offer a harrowing, minute-by-minute account of Tennessee's failed attempt to execute Christa Pike. Pike survived being administered two doses of pentobarbital during her attempted execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Sept. 30. According to one of her attorneys who witnessed the attempt, members of the corrections department's IV team appeared to struggle to establish intravenous lines and repeatedly feared her veins had blown.
In a newly filed declaration, Randy Spivey of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender stated that members of the Tennessee Department of Correction's IV team appeared to use approximately 10 needles to administer pentobarbital. The IV team began attempting to locate a vein at 6:34 p.m., with one member seeming to be struggling to locate a vein, according to Spivey.
At several points while attempting to place IV lines, team members were unsure if the needle got in and expressed that they believed her vein might be blown, according to Spivey. Pike grimaced as an IV team member attempted to insert a needle in her left shoulder, he stated. After one team member said, 'I think it is blown,' they examined the insertion site and another team member said, 'Let's regroup,' according to the declaration.
At 7:24 p.m., the IV team seemed satisfied that the lines were set and exited the chamber, Spivey said. About 10 minutes later, Pike remarked, 'I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns,' according to Spivey. He stated she said the one spot on her arm was 'really burning' and that it hurt. Her breathing became more labored and she started to make snoring and choking sounds, according to the filing.
At 8:06 p.m., her spiritual advisor whispered to Spivey, 'She's still alive,' according to the attorney's filing. A third dose of pentobarbital is not authorized under the state's protocol, Spivey noted in his declaration. At 8:40 p.m., an individual called 911 from the prison to request an ambulance, according to a transcript of the call released by the Metro Nashville Emergency Communications Center.
ABC News has reached out to the Tennessee Department of Correction for comment on Spivey's account. Previously, the department said it followed every step of the state's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office, and that the lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective.
Spivey's declaration was included in a motion filed Thursday seeking to add new evidence to a complaint brought last year by several death row inmates in Tennessee, according to the plaintiffs' attorney with the Federal Public Defenders of Middle Tennessee. The motion asked the court to consider new evidence, including Spivey's account of Pike's attempted execution, in the complaint, which challenges the constitutionality of Tennessee's lethal injection protocol. The complaint alleges pentobarbital poses a 'high risk of a torturous death' and seeks to bar its use.
ABC News also reached out to the Tennessee Attorney General's Office for comment on the complaint and the new motion. The state has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. Notably, Pike is not among the death row inmates named as plaintiffs in the complaint, yet her experience is now being presented as new evidence in that case.
The lone woman on Tennessee's death row, Pike was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was hospitalized on life support following the botched execution, before regaining consciousness nearly a week later, on Oct. 6, her attorneys said. She has since been released from the hospital and transferred back to prison, her attorneys said.
Her attorneys said she suffered burns on her arms from the pentobarbital and was having cognitive issues upon regaining consciousness. She is the first person reported to have survived lethal injection after being given medications, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, whose executive director referred to the failed attempt as 'the worst we've ever seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era.'
Pike's attorneys raised concerns about her execution in the months leading up to it, arguing the medications used carried a huge risk of pain and suffering. They have called on Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Lee ordered a temporary halt to scheduled executions in the state following Pike's botched execution, and Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation earlier this month. The governor's office said it appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to conduct an independent review of the execution attempt, which will seek to determine whether the protocol was followed and consider whether additional recommendations are necessary to ensure the state's protocol continues to be lawful and effective. The court case, the governor's halt and the independent review will now determine when — and how — lethal injection returns in Tennessee.
