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Randy Spivey and Stephen Ferrell are attorneys representing Christa Pike, the Tennessee woman who survived the state’s September 30, 2026 lethal-injection attempt. Spivey is associated with Tennessee’s Office of the Post-Conviction Defender; Ferrell is with Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee and is listed as Pike’s counsel in a September 25 Supreme Court filing. Both spoke out after the attempt.
What happened during Christa Pike’s execution attempt?
Tennessee attempted to execute Pike by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on September 30, 2026. According to her attorneys’ account reported by the Associated Press, officials administered two doses of pentobarbital after difficulty establishing IV access. Pike survived and was taken to a hospital.
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In an Associated Press report published October 2, her lawyers said Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator, and that medical staff were treating serious effects from the drug and injuries to both arms. That is the attorneys’ account of her condition at the time of that report, not a prognosis; her medical status may change.
The attorneys believed problems with the IV lines caused pentobarbital to enter Pike’s body rather than her bloodstream, the AP reported. The available reports did not independently establish the cause of the failed attempt, and state officials had not offered an explanation in the information available to the AP report. Associated Press, October 2, 2026.
Who are Randy Spivey and Stephen Ferrell?
Randy Spivey
Spivey is one of Pike’s attorneys and is associated with the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender. He spoke to reporters after the attempt, describing the effort to establish IV access and calling for commutation. CBS reported that Spivey said the team spent about an hour trying to establish access and that he counted at least seven needles in Pike’s left arm. These are his reported observations, not independently adjudicated findings.
Stephen Ferrell
Ferrell is an attorney with Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee and counsel for Pike. A September 25, 2026 application for a stay of execution filed at the U.S. Supreme Court lists Ferrell, alongside Luke P. Ihnen, as counsel. The filing gives Ferrell’s Tennessee bar number as 025170 and identifies the organization’s Knoxville address. It confirms his role in Pike’s federal litigation, but does not establish a complete biography or wider caseload. Supreme Court stay application, September 25, 2026.
What did Pike’s lawyers say after the attempt?
Spivey told CBS: “The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity.” He also called the attempt “not just inefficient” but “cruel,” “torturous,” and “predictable.” Those are Spivey’s characterizations, not findings by a court.
A joint statement attributed to Spivey and Kelly Gleason of the Office of the Post-Conviction Defender, and Ferrell and Ihnen of Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, said: “Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution.” The Death Penalty Information Center reproduced the statement. CBS News, updated October 1, 2026; Death Penalty Information Center, posted October 1 and updated October 2, 2026.
Pike’s attorneys said they had warned the state before the attempt about her blood condition and difficulty accessing her veins. Afterward, they sought preservation of evidence, saying it was needed to understand what happened, ensure accountability, and protect Pike’s legal rights. Their account and allegations have not been established as findings in the sources cited here.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did Tennessee officials say, and what happens next?
The Tennessee Department of Correction spokesperson offered a different account of the protocol. As reproduced by DPIC, the spokesperson said the department followed every step of the state’s established execution protocol, that the lethal-injection chemical “has consistently been effective,” and that the protocol did not permit additional procedures beyond those carried out. This is the department’s statement; it does not itself explain the specific failure during Pike’s attempt.
CBS reported that Governor Bill Lee called off Tennessee’s remaining scheduled executions for 2026 and ordered a comprehensive third-party review. The report described the order at that time; it did not report findings from the review. Whether investigators or courts will determine a cause or other conclusions is not established by the cited reports.
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DPIC reported that seven people before Pike had survived failed lethal-injection attempts, but in each of those cases officials halted the execution because they could not establish an IV and administered no drugs. Pike’s case differs in the narrow respect that her attorneys said two doses had been administered before she survived. This comparison is DPIC’s account; it should not be read as a broader claim that every other feature of the cases was the same.
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