Christa Pike’s lawyers said she has a rare form of blood cancer as she hopes to end to prison isolation.
The 50-year-old’s lawyers outlined their concerns in a January 8, 2026 complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
Her lawyers warned of extra pain and complications ahead of her failed lethal injection on September 30.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She spent 10 days in hospital after surviving two lethal injections.
Meanwhile, a separate motion challenges her confinement in the prison infirmary.
Christa Pike’s lawyers outline blood cancer concerns
The January complaint challenged the planned execution under the First, Eighth and Fourteenth amendments.
It said that Pike’s “platelet count is significantly elevated, likely due to a rare form of blood cancer called myeloproliferative disorder”.
Her lawyers argued that elevated platelets could increase the risk of severe pulmonary oedema during lethal injection. That involves a potentially dangerous build-up of fluid in the lungs.
“A pulmonary edema is not simply painful or uncomfortable; it can create a sense of suffocating or drowning that has been likened by experts to the sensation intentionally induced by the practice of waterboarding—an unambiguous form of outright torture,” her lawyer said in the filing, according to PEOPLE.
Her team also reported difficulties with her veins, including problems taking blood and inserting needles.
Read more: Tennessee governor suspects Christa Pike’s sentence will stay the same following failed execution
Christa Pike asks judge to restore prison conditions
Her lawyers also want conditions restored under a 2024 agreement with the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
They argue her continued stay in the infirmary breaches that settlement by depriving her of meaningful contact with others.
The requested arrangements would allow her to work, eat and spend time with fellow prisoners outside her former pod.
Pike says isolation is causing serious psychological harm, following 28 years in solitary confinement.
But she also fears a move back to her former pod while physically weak. She alleges she witnessed assaults involving prisoners and guards during her two years living there.
In her statement to the court, Pike wrote: “In my current physical condition, I could not defend myself or get away if another inmate attacked me.”
Christa Pike’s legal challenge continues
Both sides are reportedly expected to submit arguments over her emergency motion this week.
Tennessee governor Bill Lee has suspended the state’s remaining executions for 2026 and ordered an independent investigation.
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