Overview
- The filing describes nearly an hour of IV attempts on Sept. 30, roughly 10 needle insertions across both arms, and execution team members saying a vein 'might be blowing' while staff taped and checked lines.
- Witnesses reported Pike complained of severe burning in her arm, two doses of pentobarbital were given without causing death, she was taken to a hospital, put on a ventilator and later discharged back to prison.
- Tennessee’s 2025 protocol authorizes a second pentobarbital dose if the first fails but provides no steps if a person survives that second injection, a gap central to the new legal claims.
- Governor Bill Lee ordered an independent review led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton and paused remaining 2026 executions while courts have ordered preservation of syringes, IV lines and communications.
- Plaintiffs are asking a judge to let them add Pike’s account to Burns v. Strada, a broader suit challenging Tennessee’s protocol, a move that could force changes to IV-team training, drug handling and future execution plans.