Attorneys detail Tennessee’s failed execution

Attorneys challenging Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol will be in court Nov. 6 for a hearing on a proposed supplemental complaint detailing the failed execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike.Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Prosecutors say Pike and two accomplices tortured, slashed and fatally beat Slemmer. Pike was 18 at the time of the murder. Pike was also convicted of attempted murder in 2001 after trying to strangle another prisoner with a shoestring.
The Department of Correction’s execution team took nearly an hour to find peripheral IV access to Pike during the Sept. 30 attempt, according to court documents filed by the Federal Public Defender’s Office of East Tennessee. Attorneys are asking the court to add the supplemental complaint to an earlier challenge to the state’s lethal injection protocol filed by the office.
The complaint is based on the account of Randy Spivey, Pike’s attorney.
“According to Mr. Spivey, the execution team members in the Lethal Injection Room seemed to be having difficulty pushing saline through the IV lines,” according to the proposed supplemental complaint provided to The Center Square by the Federal Public Defender’s Office. “Nevertheless, Mr. Spivey reports that the warden described the problem as ‘positional’ and due to the fact that the line was taped ‘too tight.'”
The curtains to the execution room first opened to witnesses at 7:26 p.m. The curtains were closed at 7:46 p.m., but witnesses heard Pike struggling to breathe, according to the complaint. Officials reopened the curtains three minutes later and left them open until 8:05 p.m. Witnesses again said they heard Pike struggling to breathe.
Spivey was told at 8:50 p.m. that an ambulance was en route to provide medical care for Pike.
Pike returned to prison on Oct. 10 after being hospitalized.
“Ms. Pike’s attorneys had previously been told that Ms. Pike was brain-dead and expected her to be removed from life support,” the attorneys said. “The extent of Ms. Pike’s injuries is presently unknown to plaintiffs’ counsel. However, shortly after Ms. Pike regained consciousness, her attorneys reported that she had pneumonia, a blood clot, trouble swallowing, trouble walking, swollen hands, cognitive difficulties, and was unable to move her arms or hands, among other issues.”
Attorneys also detailed the failed execution of Tony Carruthers, which was halted in May after a doctor could not find a central line.
“Physician A – having apparently learned for the first time that the state of Tennessee was expecting him to be capable of setting a central line – testified that he had not done so since 2013 and had only performed the procedure about a dozen times,” the attorneys said. “Physician A also testified that he had never used an ultrasound to place a central line, which is the standard of care.”
Gov. Bill Lee gave Carruthers a one-year reprieve from the death penalty. Carruthers was convicted of murder in 1996 for the deaths of Marcellos Anderson; his mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker.
The governor has yet to indicate if he will do the same for Pike.
Lee, who leaves office in January 2027, has halted executions through the end of the year.
Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, who made $21,160 a month, or $253,920 annually, according to the Transparent Tennessee website, resigned on Oct. 3. Strada was appointed by Lee, and his tenure began in January 2023.
Strada led the department when the decision was made to use the single drug pentobarbital. Lee paused executions in 2022 to review the state’s death penalty protocols and tasked Strada with investigating the methods.
Lee appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton, who also reviewed the state’s lethal execution protocol in 2022, to handle an investigation into what happened in Pike’s failed execution.
A hearing on the motion to file a supplemental complaint is scheduled for Nov. 6 in Davidson County Chancery Court.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publicaiton obtaining a comment from the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.

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