Tennessee Correction Commissioner Frank Strada plans to resign following the botched execution of Christa Pike.
Gov. Bill Lee announced Sept. 3 that Strada would leave his position this month, as an independent investigation into what went wrong during Pike’s failed execution begins.
“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity,” Lee said in announcing the resignation, according to ABC News. “I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment.”
Strada said he believed stepping away from the job was “in the best interest of Tennesseans,” according to CNN.
“I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary,” Strada added. “I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred.”
The publication reached out to the Tennessee Department of Corrections for additional comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Pike’s attorneys said executioners had difficulty establishing IV lines on the night of Sept. 30. They believe those problems caused the barbiturate to enter her body rather than her bloodstream, leaving her alive and snoring despite receiving two fatal doses.
“We may never know,” Ferrell said, “what sort of torture she endured during that process.”
Christa Pike’s Condition Remains Unknown After Botched Execution
Pike was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. Instead, she survived two doses of a lethal-injection drug on Sept. 30 and was taken to a hospital for life-saving treatment.
Her attorney, Stephen Ferrell, said Pike’s prognosis remains unknown. She is still on a ventilator and is “critically ill.”
“If she recovers, she may not fully recover,” Ferrell told CNN. “And there may be issues about her competence.”
According to Pike’s legal team, executioners struggled to place the IV lines needed for the procedure. Her attorneys believe the complications caused the barbiturate to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream, leaving her alive and snoring after two fatal doses.
“We may never know,” Ferrell said, “what sort of torture she endured during that process.”
Strada said Tennessee had “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol,” PBS reported.
The incident followed another Tennessee execution that was called off earlier this year after executioners could not establish a second IV line in Tony Carruthers’ arm.
Following Pike’s botched execution, Lee suspended executions in Tennessee and ordered an independent review led by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton, according to the outlet.
Before Lee appointed him to lead the Tennessee Department of Corrections in 2023, Strada served as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections and spent nearly 30 years with the Bureau of Prisons, according to his official biography.
Pike’s attorneys welcomed Strada’s decision to step down but said his resignation would not improve their client’s condition.
“What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” her legal team said in a statement to PBS. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”