Execution team members in Tennessee used about 10 needles while struggling to establish intravenous (IV) lines in death-row inmate Christa Pike’s arms before her failed execution on September 30, her lawyer has said in a new court filing.

The team also expressed concern that some of Pike’s veins might have ruptured, or “blown”, during the process, attorney Randy Spivey wrote in the document filed on Thursday. The team struggled to establish the lines and had difficulty pushing saline through the final IV site, according to his account.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital during the attempted execution. She was taken to hospital and placed on a ventilator for several days before regaining consciousness and eventually returning to prison.

The filing provides the most detailed account yet of the problems inside the execution chamber and has renewed questions about Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures. The reported concerns about Pike’s veins have not been independently established as medical findings.

EXPLAINER · DEATH PENALTY IN THE US When a US Execution Fails: What Happens Next?

PROCEDURE STARTSCOMPLETED HALTED Sept 30, 2026: Tennessee’s execution of Christa Pike failed. She survived two doses of pentobarbital.

Discharged after ~10 days Executions paused for 2026 Outside review ordered Next step: not announced PROTOCOL WHEN IT FAILS TRY AGAIN?

PAST CASES What a protocol covers The drugs Tennessee: one drug since 2024 The team Who acts, who can stop it Safeguards e.g. a required backup line Time limit The death warrant can expire

No national rulebook:

each state writes its own.

2008 2015 2019 US Supreme Court rulings went against prisoners challenging lethal injection AP; Death Penalty Information Center; Baze v. Rees, Glossip v. Gross, Bucklew v. Precythe Two ways an execution can fail Execution does not go as planned Halted before any drug Drugs given, prisoner survived No uniform process across states. Death Penalty Information Center, via AP Can a state try again?

8TH AMENDMENT Bans cruel and unusual punishment Willie Francis ALLOWED Romell Broom Miller & Smith UNDECIDED Christa Pike UNTESTED No law explicitly bars a second attempt. It depends on the facts.

AP; Supreme Court of Ohio Failed attempts since 1946 1946 Electric chair failed Executed in 1947 2009 No usable vein after 2+ hours Died on death row, 2020 2014 Clayton Lockett Halted after drugs given Died in the chamber 2017 Alva Campbell No vein access, ~80 minutes 2018 Doyle Lee Hamm Called off near midnight deadline Died in prison, 2021 2022 Alan Miller Failed IV attempts, 90+ min Executed by nitrogen gas, 2024 Kenneth Smith Warrant expired before line set 2024 Thomas Creech Eight failed IV attempts Remains on death row MAY 2026 Tony Carruthers Backup line could not be set One-year reprieve SEP 2026 Survived two doses of drugs Executions paused for 2026 Halted before drugs Electric chair Tap a dot. Not a complete list.

Death Penalty Information Center; AP

Sources: Associated Press; Death Penalty Information Center; Supreme Court of Ohio (State v. Broom, 2016); US Supreme Court rulings.

Express InfoGenIE Created by Aniruddha Dhar What happened after the execution attempt?

Pike was scheduled to be executed for the 1995 murder of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, who was 19 at the time. Pike was 18 when she tortured and killed Slemmer, with the help of her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp and another friend.

Slemmer was attacked with a box cutter, and a pentagram was carved into her chest. Part of her skull was also removed. Pike was sentenced to death, while her boyfriend Shipp received a life sentence.

Under Tennessee’s execution protocol, a second dose of pentobarbital is administered if the first dose fails to cause death. The protocol does not specify what officials should do if the inmate survives the second dose, as per Reuters’ report.

After Pike was taken to hospital, her condition was serious enough that her lawyers feared she might not survive. She eventually regained consciousness and was returned to prison following her discharge. Questions raised over procedure The botched execution has renewed scrutiny of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures. The latest court filing was submitted as part of a separate legal challenge by people on the state’s death row against the way Tennessee carries out executions.

The difficulties in IV lines, along with the uncertainty over what happens when two doses fail to cause death, have drawn attention to the state’s execution protocol.

Pike’s case has also raised questions about whether the circumstances of her childhood and her age at the time of the murder were considered during her trial and sentencing. Lawyers on troubled childhood Before the execution attempt, Pike’s lawyers had sought clemency, arguing that details of her childhood were not considered by the jury that sentenced her to death. United Nations human rights experts had also called for the execution to be halted.

Her clemency petition mentioned sexual abuse in her childhood, neglect and abandonment. According to a BBC report, forensic psychologist Dr Diana McCoy, hired by Pike’s defence team in 1995, found that she had suffered severe neglect from both parents.

Pike’s lawyers argued that if she had committed the same crime as a teenager under today’s legal standards, she would not have received the death penalty.

Pike has not denied her role in Slemmer’s killing. But her team has maintained that information about her childhood, which was not presented to the jury, should have been considered when deciding her sentence.