Judge sides with Christa Pike’s attorneys and rules evidence from botched execution be preserved

By Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury

(CNN) – A judge ruled Wednesday the state of Tennessee must preserve all evidence related to Christa Pike’s failed execution.

This includes 911 calls and communications between any state officials as well as physical evidence, Judge I’Ashea Myles said, after hearing arguments.

Pike is conscious and speaking, her attorneys said, despite it appearing the night before that she was brain-dead and would be taken off life support. She was hospitalized after surviving two ostensibly lethal doses of pentobarbital last week.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer and was set to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.

Here’s what else happened in court:

Judge Myles did not rule on Pike’s access to a tablet while hospitalized, as her attorneys requested. She asked the state’s attorneys to submit more information on security concerns and how the tablet works.

The judge also didn’t rule on a request from Pike’s lawyers to unshackle her arm. Myles asked for hospital staff to provide more information about the medical need. After the injections, her attorneys say, her arms were “swollen, burned and blistered.”

Assistant Attorney General John W. Ayers argued a new court order to preserve evidence would be “premature” because the Tennessee Department of Correction is already making those efforts.

The state said it collected things like log books, medical waste and electrocardiogram readouts from the execution chamber. But other evidence, such as cut IV lines transported to the hospital with Pike, may not be in TDOC’s custody.

Pike attorney Luke Ihnen said the evidence the defense wants to preserve will be relevant if the state attempts another execution.

No execution order is pending for Pike, Ayers said, and he can’t say whether another could be issued because that’s up to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Pike attorney Randy Spivey said the first thing she said upon waking up was, “Where am I and who are you?” She’s “angry and confused” and “very aware that the state tried to execute her,” he said.

Pike has pneumonia and a blood clot in one of her arms, can’t swallow yet and is therefore not eating, said Spivey. Ihnen said they’ve not been able to discuss legal next steps with her because of her condition.

Pike’s arms and hands are swollen and they don’t know what function she will regain in her arms, Spivey said. “Her hands looked like if you were to blow up a surgical glove,” he said.

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