Pike case: lawyer describes vein problems as suit over lethal injection expands
A lawyer for Christa Pike describes in a sworn declaration how the team struggled to place IV lines. Death row prisoners want to use it to expand their lawsuit against Tennessee’s execution protocol.
Symbolic image · Photo: Kaldari / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
New details have emerged about the failed attempt to execute Christa Pike in Tennessee. Her lawyer Randy Spivey, who was present as a witness on Sept. 30, describes in a sworn declaration how the team struggled to place IV lines. According to his account, reported by ABC News and the station CBS 12, the search for a vein began at 6:34 p.m. and about ten needles were used in total. Team members said more than once that a vein might have blown. At 7:34 p.m., Pike complained of pain, saying her arm felt as if it was about to burst and that it burned. At 8:40 p.m., according to Spivey, an ambulance was called. The statements come from a court filing; according to CBS 12, they do not on their own establish why the execution failed.
The declaration was filed on Thursday in a case brought last year by several death row prisoners (Burns v. Strada) that challenges Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol. The plaintiffs argue that pentobarbital carries a high risk of a torturous death. They want to add the account of Pike’s case. In May, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off because no suitable vein could be found. Pike herself is not a plaintiff. The state is seeking dismissal. The Department of Correction said it “followed every step” of the approved protocol. Chancellor Russell Perkins will hear the motions on Nov. 6. In Pike’s own case, a different judge will rule on written submissions after the Oct. 23 hearing was cancelled.
Supporters of the death penalty also see a need for change. Republican state Sen. Mark Pody told Fox 17: “It has been a failed system, and we’ve got to fix it.” Gov. Bill Lee has called off the last execution scheduled for 2026. The independent review led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton is ongoing, and no findings have been released. Pike’s lawyers have asked Lee to commute her sentence to life without parole. Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of a 19-year-old woman in Knoxville. She is the only woman on Tennessee’s death row.