<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A Nashville judge on Wednesday ordered the Tennessee Department of Corrections to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution of Christa Pike.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This order follows a request from Pike's lawyers, who survived two doses of lethal injection, to collect materials showing the "incompetent and reckless actions" during the execution attempt.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Counsel for Pike, 50, appeared in court Wednesday for the first time since the execution attempt failed. Nashville Judge I’Ashea Myles issued the order after hearing from Pike’s attorneys and Assistant Attorney General John Ayers, who did not specify if the state plans to carry out Pike’s execution at a later date.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“This case is unique, to say the least,” Myles stated. “I am quite sure that, at least in the procedural posture that the parties in this court find themselves, was not something that could have been anticipated. In light of the evolving situation, the court will pen and grant its own order, granting the motion to preserve relevant evidence.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In her order, Myles required the state to preserve IV lines, garbage, photographs, surveillance footage, timelines, incident reports, and witness accounts, essentially anything and everything related to Pike’s execution.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Luke Ihnen, one of Pike’s attorneys, also informed the court that Pike was having difficulty communicating because she did not have her state-issued tablet at the hospital. Myles requested more information about the tablet's use before ruling on Pike’s access to it.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I would say, just because Miss Clark is currently in a hospital does not mean that she should have any less access to her attorney than she would when she is in the women’s prison,” Myles said.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Ihnen also requested that Pike’s shackles be released, noting that she may not be able to move. The judge asked the medical staff to petition the court on this matter.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The hearing occurred one day after Pike’s attorneys reported that she is awake and speaking following nearly a week of treatment. Pike had been intubated and unconscious in a Nashville hospital since the two attempts to execute her failed last week.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After the hearing, Pike’s lawyers held a press conference and recounted Pike’s first words after waking up.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Pike asked where she was but has since been made aware of the circumstances surrounding her execution attempt, according to her lawyers. They described Pike as being "angry and confused" while having a tube down her throat.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Regarding Pike’s health, her attorneys stated that she has a blood clot in one of her arms, both of which are "tremendously swollen," and she also has pneumonia.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One of the lawyers, Richard Spivey, mentioned that prior to Pike waking up, she was believed to have been brain dead, and there were discussions about taking her off life support.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges and sentenced to death in 1996, when she was 20. She was convicted for murdering her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, at the age of 18, alongside her then-17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, who was sentenced to life in prison.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Pike reportedly inquired about Slemmer's family after regaining consciousness.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Pike’s execution was scheduled for 10 a.m. on September 30, but the court delayed it to consider Pike’s challenge regarding her history of childhood sexual abuse and mental illness. After the Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed, with dissent from the court’s three liberal justices, the botched execution occurred that night.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Her attorneys previously stated that she could be heard "crying and whimpering" during the procedure, later noting that her arm felt like it was "about to burst open." Additionally, Pike’s lawyers indicated that "one needle was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed."