Tennessee prison officials moved forward with Christa Pike's execution despite indications that the intravenous lines used to administer lethal drugs were not functioning properly, according to the latest allegations filed in Davidson County Chancery Court.
The Oct. 22 filing raises new questions about the state's handling of Pike's failed Sept. 30 execution and details alleged problems in several other executions, including concerns about the qualifications of the physician responsible for carrying them out.
Attorneys representing Tennessee death row prisoners are seeking to add the allegations to an ongoing lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection procedures.
The motion alleges that execution team members spent nearly an hour trying to
establish IV access in Pike's arms, repeatedly believing they had secured a working line only to discover otherwise.
After the lines were placed, the filling states, personnel responsible for administering the drugs encountered resistance while pushing saline through the tubing, prompting repeated requests to check the IV in Pike's left arm.
The prison warden attributed the difficulty to the positioning of the line and tape being too tight, according to her attorney Randy Spivey, who witnessed the execution.
The execution physician did not attempt to establish a central IV line, an alternative procedure permitted under Tennessee's execution protocol, Spivey said.
The filing does not establish whether the IV problems prevented the drugs from entering Pike's bloodstream as intended.
Pike survived two doses of lethal drugs
Pike, 50, was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at the Knoxville Job Corps.
Her Sept. 30 attempted execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution lasted more than two hours and ended with Pike surviving two doses of pentobarbital.
According to her attorneys, Pike complained that her arm felt like it was "about to bust" and that one spot was "really burning" as the execution unfolded.
She continued speaking with her spiritual adviser after the first dose was administered. Her breathing subsequently became labored, and prison officials closed the curtains separating the execution chamber from witnesses.
After the second dose, Spivey noticed that Pike's right arm appeared purple below the elbow. He described increasingly loud choking and rhythmic gasping sounds.
Witnesses remained behind closed curtains for nearly an hour as Pike continued struggling to breathe, according to the filing.
The execution also raised questions about the state's emergency response procedures.
A 911 call requesting an ambulance was made at 8:40 p.m., but first responders were delayed after prison officials initially failed to provide a verification code and dispatchers were incorrectly told the emergency request was not legitimate.
Emergency personnel were not admitted to the prison until 9:15 p.m. Pike was transported out of the facility at 9:26 p.m.
She remained unresponsive in critical condition for nearly a week before regaining consciousness Oct. 6.
Her attorneys later reported that she suffered pneumonia, a blood clot, difficulty walking and swallowing, cognitive problems and an inability to move her arms or hands. The full extent of her injuries has not been disclosed.
Tennessee's problematic execution history questioned
The court filing also details other alleged failures during executions carried out under Tennessee's lethal injection protocol adopted in January 2025.
In August 2025, execution officials declared Byron Black dead despite an electrocardiogram showing continued electrical activity in his heart for nearly two minutes afterward, according to the filing.
The filing also questions the qualifications of the execution physician involved in the May 2026 attempted execution of Tony Carruthers, which Gov. Bill Lee called off after officials spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to establish IV access.
The physician testified in an earlier deposition that he had not placed a central IV line since 2013 and had performed the procedure only about a dozen times.
Attorneys also cited signs of distress during the executions of Harold Wayne Nichols and Anthony Darrell Hines, along with the state's failure to install an EKG printer before Oscar Smith's May 2025 execution.
The prisoners' attorneys argue that the incidents demonstrate that their concerns about Tennessee's execution procedures are no longer hypothetical.
The state has sought dismissal of portions of the lawsuit, arguing that allegations about the risk of improperly conducted executions are too speculative.
The plaintiffs are asking Chancellor Russell Perkins to allow the new allegations to be added to the case. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6, with a trial currently set for February 2027.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Warnings preceded Christa Pike's botched execution, court filing says
