One of the issues Pike's lawyers raised in court today is the difficulty they have had getting access to visit Pike while she's been in hospital.

The judge, Chancellor l'Ashea Myles, says she will not make a decision today on Pike's lawyers' request to let Pike use the tablet she had used in prison while she's in hospital. Myles asked the state to provide more information on how the tablet works and if it can be used outside the prison.

She also said Pike's lawyers need to communicate with the warden at least two hours ahead of a visitation or communication time, and the warden then has two hours to respond to that request.

Access to Pike should be handled as if she was still in prison, and her being in hospital doesn't mean she should have less access to her attorney, Myles says.

The judge says items from the failed execution - such as drugs, syringes and tubing that are in the state's possession - must be retained "as a primary matter".

"Anything that was in the actual room needs to be preserved and maintained," she says.

She adds this includes recordings of the evening itself and any communications on the events, as well as information on the ability to access veins or "deviation from the protocol".

"Frankly, the state will have no problem doing this because you all are already doing that," she says.

She also asks for any documentation on Pike's psychological condition prior to, during and after 30 September and any other state actors who were called when the decision was made to call ambulatory services.

She advises the state to take "special care" not to misplace or accidentally delete any information that may be pertinent to the litigation.

Image source, Reuters

Chancellor I'Ashea Myles says she will grant Pike's attorneys the motion to preserve all evidence.

She makes it clear that she's taking a broad definition of what Tennessee authorities have to preserve.

She says she will write and issue her own order, and it will take effect when she has written and signed it, she says.

“Anything that was in the actual room needs to be preserved and maintained," the judge says, including waste, like packaging, inserts, and labels.

"We want all of it," Pike's lawyer Luke Inhen says regarding the evidence from Pike's failed execution, hammering home the central point he has made throughout this hearing.

Not preserving everything would cause harm to Pike, he argues.

He concludes with that, and the judge begins speaking.

It appears there are some technical difficulties with the livestream from the courtroom.

We're working to bring you the latest - stick with us.

Ayers has just listed some of the evidence in the state's possession, which Pike's legal team is requesting be preserved following her failed execution.

The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) has advised that physical evidence was collected from the execution chamber, and has been logged into a preservation room, Ayers says.

Among the items collected are:

• Log books
• Observation logs
• Medical waste and products
• And readouts from an EKG exam, which monitors electricity in the heart

Ayers also acknowledges there "may be" some equipment that Pike's legal team sought in their motion that might not be in the state's possession. Specifically, Ayers says its his understanding that Pike's IV lines were cut.

He says there may be portions of those IV lines that could have been attached to Pike when she was transported to the hospital.

The state's lawyer, Will Ayres, is now addressing concerns raised by Pike's lawyers around visitation.

Pike's lawyers visited her in hospital yesterday, the state's lawyer notes.

To visit her again, which they have requested to do this afternoon, they will have to get approval from the prison warden.

There are unique concerns in keeping Pike and those around her safe, the state's lawyer adds.

Image source, Reuters

Will Ayres is called back up by Chancellor I'Ashea Myles.

She asks him if it's correct that he's not in the position to say that a new execution order will not be presented tomorrow?

"I can't answer that question," Ayres says, noting how that is down to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

He says the parties are engaged in a process that governs what evidence will be preserved, and says they are working together to ensure the counsel for Pike is able to get the evidence that they believe they are entitled to.

He says the preservation of physical evidence is required by an order, and is being preserved by TDOC.

The question is, he says, is the evidence being preserved? And under the existing order, he notes, it must be.

Image source, Reuters

Ihnen now requests that Pike be given phone access to speak with her legal counsel.

He says that the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) "continues to put up roadblocks for not only the providers at the hospital but for the counsel".

"We are frustrated that the information that the state has is repeatedly and deliberately secreted away."

The legal representative adds that Pike is currently "shackled" to her hospital bed and he understands medical staff have asked for these shackles to be removed, but this has been denied by the TDOC.

Luke Inhen, Pike's lawyer, is continuing to argue for the preservation of evidence regarding her failed execution.

He tells the court that ahead of her execution, Pike's team had warned in court filings that she had conditions that could complicate a lethal injection, a method of execution that could cause "significant, excruciating pain".

Prison officials have had issues drawing Pike's blood or finding a vein in the past, which could have complicated the procedure, he notes.

“Based on what we know about Ms Pike's current condition, these allegations in the complaint” certainly seem “related to the botched execution”, Inhen says.

“The state has made no promises that Ms Pike will not be subject to a future execution," Inhen said.

Pike's lawyers say they have made broad requests for retention of evidence from the state, because, "we don't know what they have because they won't tell us".

The court has now moved to the matter of Pike's attempted execution.

Pike's lawyer Luke Inhen is asking the state to preserve evidence - such as IV lines, syringes, and other materials - from the execution attempt on 30 September.

"We have not asked the state to produce anything," he says. "We are asking the state to preserve evidence of Miss Pike's botched execution."

The state lawyer is now moving onto discussion of the motion to preserve evidence of the attempted execution.

Will Ayers says there is no case currently open for there to be any evidence collection for, and Pike's team has not previously asked for any discovery at court appearances.

The judge asks if this is a fair argument given that Pike had "something that was more pressing than discovering in an underlying case".

Ayers says the "rules must be followed".

• For context: The emergency motion to preserve evidence was filed by Pike's legal team and could lay the groundwork for a future lawsuit against the state over how the failed execution was carried out

Image source, Reuters

Will Ayers, a lawyer for the state, is now speaking and notes how we are in an "unusual procedural position here".

Ayers and the judge are discussing whether she can exercise her authority in this case, with the lawyer saying: "This case is still pending before this court."

The pair also speak on how the case should move forward given the previous legal challenge was transferred to the Tennessee Supreme Court before being dismissed.

The judge says: "This court closed the case and now we're here."

Pike's lawyer Luke Inhen says that until yesterday, his client was "unconscious" and unable to communicate.

She regained consciousness yesterday, as has been widely reported, he says, but he tells the judge she is now only “speaking limitedly.”

Without her consent, they could not bring a new legal action. With Pike now conscious, they have not yet decided whether to pursue a new legal claim.

Pike's lawyer Luke Inhen and the judge are now discussing how this court, the Davidson County Chancery Court, can maintain its jurisdiction over Pike's case.

Previously, a challenge in this court by Pike was transferred to the state's supreme court because of lack of jurisdiction, and Pike's lawyers are trying to prevent this from happening again.

As we've reported, Pike's legal challenges have brought her case to several courts in the state of Tennessee and federally, including the US Supreme Court, which allowed her execution to move forward last week.

Image source, Reuters

Judge Chancellor I'Ashea Myles is now in the courtroom as proceedings begin.

Luke Ihnen, one of Christa Pike's lawyers, is first to speak.

First, they are dealing with some procedural issues related to the case.

The judge must determine whether the court has jurisdiction over Pike's case before it can move forward.

• A reminder: Pike's execution was the subject of a last-minute legal battle. This culminated in the US Supreme Court allowing the lethal injections to go ahead.

Lawyers representing Christa Pike are now inside Davidson County Chancery Court in Tennessee and the hearing has begun.

We expect her legal team to ask the judge, Chancellor I’Ashea Myles, to order the state to preserve all materials from her botched execution on 30 September.

You can follow along here for key updates, and also watch live above.

We're soon going to be hearing from Christa Pike's lawyers, who will be asking a judge in Tennessee to have all the evidence from her botched execution on Wednesday 30 September preserved.

But before we turn our attention to court, here's a look back at what you need to know from the last seven days:

• Wednesday - Pike’s execution is allowed to move forward after an 11th hour appeal. She is given two lethal injections of the drug pentobarbital, but her legal team says these failed to stop her heartbeat
• Thursday - Pike’s lawyers say she is alive and critically ill in a Nashville-area hospital
• Friday - Pike is unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator, her lawyers say. Tennessee orders an investigation and halts all remaining executions for the year
• Saturday - Tennessee announces that its head of prisons is resigning
• Sunday - Pike’s prognosis is still unclear, her lawyers say, adding they are not sure who has been to see her
• Monday - Lawyers renew calls for the state to commute her death sentence
• Tuesday - Pike is “conscious and speaking” and expected to recover, her lawyers say. They add that her prognosis is still not fully clear

While there is a lengthy history of botched executions across the US, Pike is believed to be the only person to have survived after receiving a lethal injection.

Deborah Denno, a criminologist and professor at Fordham Law School, said she was "absolutely astonished" that Pike is conscious and speaking.

There had been seven previous cases in which prisoners survived executions, but in those cases, executioners were not able to inject anything into the inmates' veins, Denno told the BBC.

Pike "is the only person for whom some kind of toxin has been injected", and then gone on to survive, she said.

The attempted execution of Pike was not the first in Tennessee in 2026 that did not go to plan.

The execution of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, was postponed in May after staff were unable to find a vein for a lethal injection. He was granted a year's reprieve by the governor.

Key moments at Pike's execution will come under the microscopepublished at 16:36 BST 7 October

16:36 BST 7 October

Stephanie Hegarty
BBC News

As we mentioned earlier, the hearing today is about preserving all documents and evidence from the execution attempt.

And there are questions being raised about those key moments after the lethal chemical was injected into Pike.

For instance, the curtain was closed to the execution chamber more than once and Pike’s lawyers and media witnesses have said they were not kept informed as to what was happening.

Last year, a group of news organisations sued the warden of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville - where Pike's execution took place - and the state corrections commissioner, arguing that the press has a right to witness executions in their entirety.

Under the state's protocol, media witnesses could see only about 10 to 15 minutes of an execution. The curtains opened after the prisoner was strapped down and the IV lines were in place, and closed before death was pronounced.

In January, a Nashville judge ordered that the curtains stay open until the pronouncement of death.

But in April the Tennessee Supreme Court put that order on hold while the state appeals, so the older, more limited rules still applied at Pike's execution.

We could see this issue raised again today.