Nearly an Hour and 10 Needles: Inside Christa Pike's Failed Execution

Tennessee execution team members reportedly struggled for nearly an hour to establish intravenous lines before attempting to execute Christa Pike on September 30, raising serious questions about the procedure that ended with her surviving two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital.

According to the , attorney Randy Spivey detailed the problems in a court declaration filed October 22. The team reportedly used approximately 10 needles while attempting to establish functioning IV lines in both arms.

The right-arm line was established within six minutes, but securing another in her left arm proved considerably more difficult.

Spivey wrote that Pike was “wincing and grimacing” as staff moved needles inside her left arm. At one point, an execution team member reportedly warned that a vein “might be blowing.”

Another attempt prompted a staff member to say, “I think it’s blown,” according to Spivey’s account.

Although the team eventually declared the second IV line established, members reportedly struggled to push saline through it.

‘My Arm Is About to Bust. It Burns’

The problems allegedly continued after the lethal injection began.

April 12, 2012; Nashville, TN, USA; Christa Gail Pike, on death row for a slaying, appears in court Thursday to fight a conviction in a 2001 attack on an inmate. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect.

At approximately 7:34 p.m., Pike complained of severe discomfort, telling those present: “I feel like my arm is about to bust. It burns.” Spivey said execution personnel repeatedly sought checks on her left arm after the procedure began.

According to his declaration, Pike subsequently made agitated, snoring-like sounds, strained, flinched and appeared to struggle to breathe.

She survived two doses of pentobarbital and was taken to hospital, where she required a ventilator for several days. Her attorneys initially feared she would not survive.

Tennessee’s protocol provides for a second dose if the first fails to cause death, but does not specify what officials should do when the second also fails.

Renewed Scrutiny of Tennessee’s Death Penalty

The incident has intensified challenges to Tennessee’s lethal-injection procedures.

Kit Thomas, an attorney representing death-row prisoners in related litigation, warned: “Our predictions about the likelihood of botched executions have come true, and will continue to come true, without substantial change.”

Pike, now 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and stabbing murder of 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer. After regaining consciousness, Pike was discharged from hospital and returned to prison.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Oct 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Source: Crime