Christa Pike remains unconscious on ventilator after failed execution attempt

Lawyers for Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike say she remains critically ill and unconscious in a Nashville hospital after surviving a botched execution attempt. According to a court filing submitted on Friday, medical staff are working to save her life and clear her system of two doses of pentobarbital, the drug used by the state for executions.

The filing states that when Pike arrived at the hospital, both of her arms were swollen, burned and blistered as a result of the drug's effects. She was placed on a ventilator and intubated after being transported by ambulance from a Tennessee prison on Wednesday following the failed execution.

The document was part of an emergency request by Pike's legal team to have state records relating to her execution preserved. It represents the most detailed account so far of her condition since the incident.

Pike's lawyers claim that faulty placement of intravenous lines caused the pentobarbital to enter her body rather than her bloodstream. They say no member of the execution team appeared to notice that the IV lines were incorrectly positioned or that her veins had ruptured, allowing the drug to enter her system improperly.

The filing further alleges that prison staff then prepared a second set of syringes and administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital.