Pike was scheduled to be put to death in Tennessee on Wednesday evening local time. The injections were allowed by the Supreme Court at the 11th hour.
She was given two injections of the drug pentobarbital, but her legal team said these failed to stop her heartbeat. As of Thursday night, she was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator.
Pike’s lawyers filed an emergency motion on Friday to preserve “any and all evidence” related to her botched execution.
During the execution attempt, prison officials tried to start intravenous (IV) lines by using at least seven needles on Pike, according to her lawyers.
While receiving the two doses, “she could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly”, her lawyers said.
“At no point did any member of the execution team realise 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,” her lawyers said in the filing.