Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada has resigned following the botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike.
Strada, who oversaw the state’s prison system, submitted his resignation to Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Oct. 3, according to reports. The move came just days after Pike, 50, survived two lethal doses of pentobarbital during a Wednesday night execution attempt that left her unconscious and dependent on a ventilator.
Strada maintained that his department had followed proper procedures during the failed procedure. “Even so, stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward,” he said. “I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred.”
Pike’s attorneys have described her condition as critical. She remains unconscious, intubated and breathing through a ventilator following the attempted execution, they said.
Strada’s departure marks a significant reversal for an official who had defended his agency’s handling of the procedure. He insisted that the department carried out its responsibilities “in accordance with established protocol,” even as he acknowledged the need for an outside investigation into what went wrong.
The failed execution has drawn national attention to Tennessee’s capital punishment practices and to Strada’s own record. He had previously faced accusations of mishandling executions in Arizona before taking the Tennessee post, though he defended his tenure in both states.
Pike was convicted of the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow Job Corps student in Knoxville. Prosecutors said Pike, then 18, and her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp lured Slemmer to a secluded spot where Pike beat her with a chunk of asphalt and carved a pentagram into her chest. Pike has been on death row for nearly three decades, becoming one of the few women nationwide awaiting execution.
The case has taken another unusual turn with Pike’s survival of the lethal injection protocol. Multiple doses of pentobarbital failed to kill her, leaving her in a medically compromised state rather than completing the sentence.
Gov. Lee has ordered an independent review of the execution failure, which Strada said he would cooperate with fully. The governor’s office announced Strada’s resignation as that review gets underway.
Pike remains under medical care as her attorneys monitor her condition following the unprecedented botched procedure.
Tennessee’s next scheduled execution has not been announced.