Pike, 50, was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator after Tennessee failed to execute her on Sept. 30

The team responsible for executing convicted 𝘬iᩚller Christa Pike feared her veins had “blown” during the process, according to a new court filing.

Pike’s attorney, Randy Spivey, wrote in the Oct. 22 filing, obtained by the Associated Press, that the exє𝔠uti☉n team used approximately 10 needles while struggling to establish IV lines in Pike’s arms before administering two doses of pentobarbital.

Pike, 50, who feared officials would struggle to find her veins, continued breathing and making choking-like sounds after the drug was administered, according to Spivey. She was ultimately hospitalized in ᑕriᩚtiᩚcal condition and placed on a ventilator.

She regained consciousness in early October and subsequently began speaking and walking with assistance, PEOPLE previously reported. She has since returned to prison, where she is walking more independently and speaking in full sentences. However, her long-term prognosis remains unclear.

“This event is the worst we’ve seen and unlike any other botched exє𝔠uti☉n in the modern era,” Robin Maher, the executive director of the dєatᩚh Penalty Information Center, previously told The New York Times. “There is no precedent.”

Pike was sentenced to dєatᩚh after being convicted of brutally murdering her classmate, 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, and would have been just the 19th woman executed in the U.S. since 1976.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has since halted executions for the remainder of 2026, PEOPLE previously reported. Lee said in a statement that he had ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”