Christa Pike 'helped' staff find a vein during botched execution attempt, says her lawyer

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Christa Pike is still alive after her execution ended in chaos, with reports she endured seven separate attempts to insert a needle before receiving two doses of lethal drugs.

Her legal team say Pike herself took the lead in guiding staff toward a workable vein.

Attorney Randy Spivey described watching at least seven needles go into Pike's left arm over the course of the procedure, one of which had visibly bent by the time it was finally removed.

"Last night was not inefficient, it was cruel, and it was torturous. It was also predictable," Spivey said.

Christa Pike

Speaking at a news conference, Spivey didn't hold back in condemning the state. "Christa is alive right now. We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment," he said. "But we know she is alive right now and receiving lifesaving medical care.”

Fellow attorney Stephen Ferrell said Pike had spent much of her life anticipating exactly this kind of complication, owing to a blood disorder that has always made locating her veins unusually difficult.

"Throughout her life, she's explained to us that she had trouble having blood drawn," Ferrell said.

Christa Pike survived her execution attempt

Rather than resisting, Spivey said Pike had actively tried to guide the process herself. "Ms Pike was not just cooperative but was helping to instruct the people placing the IV lines" on where to try, he said. "She told them over and over, please try higher on my shoulder."

Calling the whole episode nothing short of "torture," her legal team is now pushing for her death sentence to be commuted.

Despite everything, Pike herself appeared calm as she lay strapped to the gurney. Asked for any final words, she said: "I'm at peace. I'm ready to be free... This is a happy day."

That composure soon slipped, as she told prison staff her arm felt like it was "about to burst open," asking them directly: "Does this happen like that?"

The inmates are set to receive the lethal injection (Getty Stock)

Roughly five minutes after the first dose, staff drew the chamber's curtains — though they reopened again just three minutes afterwards. About an hour later, witnesses say a second dose of pentobarbital was given. Pike's snoring could reportedly still be picked up through the microphone for close to 30 minutes after that, before it was finally cut.

WPLN's Catherine Sweeney, who was among those present to witness the execution, said Pike never lost consciousness across either round of the drug.

"They went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end, it was very ragged, she lifted her head up and was looking around at one point," Sweeney said. "She said there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. None of that was normal."