After surviving a botched execution, Christa Pike’s attorneys asked the court to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence in the case and provide more information about what went wrong.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered the state to save “anything that was in the actual room.”
“Part of the issue that we are facing is up until yesterday, our client was unconscious, unable to communicate with counsel, unable to communicate with medical providers, and without her consent, a new lawsuit cannot be filed, Luke Ihnen, a federal public defender, told the court.
Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles indicated that her order to save the evidence would be sweeping, forcing the state should maintain recordings, witness accounts, emails, along with drugs, syringes, IV lines and any other medical items.
The Tennessee Attorney General's Office said a court order was unnecessary.
John W. Ayers, assistant attorney general, said evidence from the death chamber already had been collected and logged.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee has called what happened “deeply disturbing” and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.” The governor postponed the state’s only other execution scheduled for this year.
‘Medically unprecedented’ recovery
Pike, 50, was given two doses of the lethal drug at Riverbend maximum security prison in Nashville last Wednesday, only for witnesses to hear her snoring inside the chamber.
Attorneys for Pike called her recovery “medically unprecedented” after she was placed on a ventilator following the bungled Sept. 30 attempt to make her the first woman put to death in Tennessee in 200 years.
Pentobarbital is a barbiturate that slows activity of the brain and nervous system and often used by doctors to treat people suffering from seizures and convulsions. In high doses, it can cause suppression of breathing, heart failure and death.
“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care. Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed,” attorneys for Pike said in a statement. “Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”
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