From the HERE City State Desk
A Davidson County judge on Wednesday ordered the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution of Christa Pike, who survived two doses of a lethal injection drug last week.
Chancellor I’Ashea Myles said the state must keep the drugs, IV lines, needles, catheters, restraints and gurneys used in the attempt, along with written and digital records, including communications on encrypted platforms. She told the department to take affirmative steps to recover any information that has already been discarded or deleted.
Pike, 50, was set to be executed Sept. 30 at Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville, but pentobarbital failed on two attempts and she was taken to a hospital. Her attorney Randy Spivey said lawyers were told Monday that she was brain dead, but she woke up and began talking Tuesday. He said she has pneumonia, a blood clot and severe swelling in her arms and hands.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Pike is the only person known to have survived an execution attempt in the United States. She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
Gov. Bill Lee has paused all executions through the end of the year and tapped former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to lead an independent review. The state also failed to execute Tony Carruthers in May.