Tennessee's prisons chief is resigning after failed execution of Christa Pike
by Associated Press , Ed White associated press · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Tennessee's prison chief, Frank Strada, announced his resignation after the failed execution of Christa Pike.
- Gov. Bill Lee called for an independent review and halted new executions.
- Pike's lawyers cited systemic failures; Strada claimed adherence to protocol.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday, the first major staff shake-up since Christa Pike's stunning failed execution left her unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Lee said. Some of the governor's fellow Republicans and other elected officials had been urging a change in leadership.
It was the second time since May that Tennessee has not been able to execute a prisoner who was seemingly moments away from death.
Strada said in a statement that resigning was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" while an independent review determines what happened Wednesday when the state failed to execute Pike despite administering two doses of a lethal drug, pentobarbital.
"I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred," Strada said.
Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a jealous rage in 1995. She became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row.
Strada defends execution protocol
There was no immediate response from Pike's lawyers for an update Saturday on her condition at a hospital. They had disclosed Friday that she was on a ventilator and unconscious in the hours following the execution attempt and that hospital staff were trying to clear the two doses of pentobarbital.
The shocking failure has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers. Lee has ordered an independent review and halted any new executions. Strada said he believes the state "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol."
Pike's legal team welcomed Strada's departure but said "it does nothing to help Christa now."
"What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person," the four-lawyer team said. "We hope the governor's call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee's entire death penalty system."
Second failed execution since May
Pike's attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
In May, Tennessee stopped the execution of Tony Carruthers after staff placed an IV into his right arm but couldn't get a secondary IV line. The governor ordered officials to wait at least a year before trying to execute him again.
Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced that Tennessee was changing its lethal injection protocol and would use only pentobarbital.
Four people have been executed in Tennessee since 2025, according to the Correction Department.
Some Arizona executions had snags
When Strada was in Arizona, that state in 2022 resumed executions after a nearly eight-year break, following criticism about an execution that took about two hours as well as difficulties obtaining certain drugs.
Clarence Dixon was the first that year. The medical team had trouble finding a vein to administer the lethal drugs and finally made an incision in his groin area. The process took about 25 minutes.
That same year in Arizona, medical staff preparing Frank Atwood for execution initially could not locate a vein in his right arm but inserted the IV in his right hand — at Atwood's suggestion, said Henry Brean, an Arizona Daily Star reporter who was a witness.
Strada announced Murray Hooper's execution by lethal injection, the third in 2022. There was an unsuccessful attempt to insert an IV line in his right arm. The IV in Hooper's leg was inserted into his femoral artery.
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