A Tennessee death row inmate remained unconscious and on a ventilator Friday after surviving the state’s failed attempt to execute her Wednesday night. Her attorneys accused prison officials of ignoring months of warnings that the lethal injection process could go catastrophically wrong.

Christa Pike was scheduled to be executed for the 1995 torture killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Pike would have become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, but the execution attempt failed.

Pike’s attorneys filed an emergency motion in Davidson County Chancery Court seeking an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence connected to what they called the state’s “botched attempted execution.” They said the evidence is necessary to determine what happened, protect Pike’s legal rights and ensure accountability.

“Christa remains critically ill and is receiving medical care for the devastating effects of Wednesday night's events,” attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen said Friday. They said Pike remained hospitalized following the failed execution attempt.

“She is critically ill, unconscious, intubated and receiving breathing assistance through a ventilator,” the attorneys added. “She is being treated for the serious effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt, including significant injuries to both arms.”

The emergency motion offered a more detailed account of what Pike’s attorneys said occurred inside the execution chamber. According to the filing, the execution team struggled to establish IV access and used at least seven needles before administering two lethal doses of pentobarbital.

The filing alleged Pike suggested where members of the execution team should attempt to insert the IV. Her attorneys also said one needle was bent at a 90-degree angle when it was removed.

Pike could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly during the procedure, according to the motion. She allegedly told those carrying out the execution, “My arm feels like it's about to burst open,” and later asked, “Does this happen like that?”

The motion said Pike arrived at the hospital with both arms “swollen, burned, and blistered.” It also said medical experts have compared pentobarbital to “bleach” or “Drano” because the substance can burn skin, tissue, and veins.

Pike’s attorneys argued that prison officials should not have been surprised by the complications. Months before the scheduled execution, they warned the state that Pike’s thrombocytosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, small veins, and history of difficult needle insertion increased the likelihood of problems establishing and maintaining IV access.

The attorneys also warned that improper delivery of pentobarbital could cause “serious illness, needless suffering, and/or prolonged or lingering death.” Those concerns, they argued, were brushed aside before the state proceeded with the lethal injection attempt.

“Her concerns were called 'speculation'; they were laughed off, scoffed at, and dismissed,” the motion states. It also cited a media witness who said the Department of Correction had many questions to answer publicly about what happened.

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The attorneys further alleged that the execution team failed to recognize that Pike’s IV lines were not properly functioning before another dose of pentobarbital was administered. The filing contended that the veins had blown and that the drug was entering Pike’s body, either entirely or partly, outside the intended pathway.

“Apparently at no point did any member of the execution team realize that the IV lines were not correctly placed or that the veins had blown and that the pentobarbital was, in whole or in part, entering Ms. Pike's body,” the motion states.

Rather than correcting the alleged failure, the attorneys said the Tennessee Department of Correction prepared a backup set of syringes and administered another lethal dose of pentobarbital. Their motion left prison officials facing serious questions about the handling of the execution attempt.

Pike’s legal team is now demanding preservation of all relevant physical, written and electronic evidence. The attorneys said that duty exists because of the alleged violation of Pike’s constitutional rights, the potential for legal action and the reasonable likelihood of litigation.

Fox News Digital contacted the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office for comment. “The governor has appropriately called for an investigation. We need to know what happened,” a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said.

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