A Nashville judge on Wednesday ordered the Tennessee Department of Corrections to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution of Christa Pike.
It comes after lawyers for Pike, who survived two doses of lethal injection, requested that all materials showing the “incompetent and reckless actions” be collected.
Counsel for Pike, 50, appeared in court Wednesday for the first time since an attempt to execute the convicted murderer failed. Nashville Judge I’Ashea Myles handed down the order after hearing from Pike’s attorneys and Assistant Attorney General John Ayers, who declined to specify if the state plans to carry out Pike’s execution at a later date.
“This case is unique, to say the least,” Myles said. “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.”
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.
Luke Ihnen, one of Pike’s attorneys, also told the court that she was having trouble communicating with Pike because she does not have her state-issued tablet at the hospital. Myles asked the state to gather more information about what Pike uses the tablet for before she rules on Pike’s access to the device.
“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.
Ihnen also requested, on behalf of the medical staff caring for Pike, that her shackles be released, but noted that Pike may not be able to move. The judge asked that the medical staff petition the court on the matter.
The hearing comes 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.
Pike’s execution was supposed to take place at 10 a.m. on Sept. 30, but the court delayed the execution to consider Pike’s challenge regarding her history of childhood sexual abuse and mental illness. After the Supreme Court allowed the execution to take place, with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting, the botched execution occurred that night.
CHRISTA PIKE AWAKE AND SPEAKING WEEK AFTER BOTCHED EXECUTION, ATTORNEYS SAY
Her attorneys previously said she could be heard “crying and whimpering” during the procedure, later saying her arm felt like it was “about to burst open.” Additionally, Pike’s lawyers stated that “one needle was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed.”
Pike was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges and sentenced to death in 1996, when she was 20. She was convicted of and sentenced for murdering her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, when she was 18, alongside Pike’s then-17-year-old boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Shipp was sentenced to life in prison.