Execution staff worried IV site might have ‘blown’ during Christa Pike’s execution attempt
Oct 22, 2026, 2:42 PM | Updated: 4:54 pm
This photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Correction shows Christa Pike on Jan. 12, 2023. (TDOC via AP)
Credit: Tennessee Department of Correction via AP
(TDOC via AP)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — 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.
The IV team went through about 10 needles and tried several IV sites on both arms, attorney Randy Spivey wrote in a declaration filed Thursday.
They even struggled to push saline through the last IV site they established, Spivey wrote.
