Execution staff worried IV site might have ‘blown’ during Christa Pike’s execution attempt

Dipti Vaidya/USA Today Network/Imagn Images/Reuters

Tennessee execution team members failed multiple times to establish working IV lines in Christa Pike’s arms before her attempted execution and warned that some of her veins may have ruptured, or “blown,” before she was injected with pentobarbital, her attorney wrote in a court document filed Thursday.

The IV team went through about 10 needles and tried several IV sites on both arms, attorney Randy Spivey wrote in the document. They even struggled to push saline through the last IV site they established, Spivey wrote.

Pike, 50, was hospitalized after surviving two doses of pentobarbital as the state tried to execute her on Sept. 30 for the 1995 stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 when she tortured and killed Slemmer with her boyfriend, becoming one of the youngest women to be sentenced to death.

Tennessee Department of Correction/AP/File

State protocol calls for a second dose of pentobarbital if the first doesn’t result in death, but it doesn’t spell out what to do if a person survives the second injection.

After being taken to a hospital, Pike was on a ventilator for several days. At one point, her attorneys did not expect her to survive. She ultimately regained consciousness and returned to prison after being discharged .

The failed execution has brought renewed scrutiny to how Tennessee carries out death sentences.

Dipti Vaidya/今日美国网络/Imagn Images/路透社

田纳西州行刑队成员在对克丽斯塔·派克执行死刑前多次未能成功在她手臂上建立有效的静脉输液管，并警告说，在她被注射戊巴比妥钠之前，她的一些静脉可能已经破裂或“爆裂”。她的律师在周四提交的一份法庭文件中写道。

律师兰迪·斯派维在文件中写道，静脉输液小组用了大约10根针，在双臂上尝试了多个输液部位。斯派维还写道，​​他们甚至很难将生理盐水注入最后一个输液部位。

现年50岁的派克在9月30日因1995年刺死同学科琳·斯莱默而被州政府执行死刑时，被注射了两剂戊巴比妥钠，但侥幸存活，随后被送往医院。她与男友合谋折磨并杀害斯莱默时年仅18岁，成为被判处死刑的最年轻的女性之一。

田纳西州惩教部门/美联社/档案

州政府规定，如果第一剂戊巴比妥钠没有导致死亡，则应注射第二剂，但并未明确规定如果患者在第二次注射后存活下来该怎么办。

派克被送往医院后，靠呼吸机维持了几天的生命。她的律师一度认为她活不下来。最终，她恢复了意识，出院后返回了监狱。

这次死刑执行失败再次引发了人们对田纳西州如何执行死刑的关注。