Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will resign this month following the failed lethal injection of death row inmate Christa Pike, an execution that left her hospitalized and on a ventilator and has triggered an independent review of the state's capital punishment procedures.
Gov. Bill Lee announced Strada's departure on Saturday, saying he accepted the commissioner's decision to step down. In a statement distributed by the governor's office, Strada said leaving was «in the best interest of Tennesseans» while the review examines what went wrong during the botched execution.
«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.
Lee praised Strada's service, saying the commissioner served with integrity and that he appreciated his «willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment.» The governor added that he was grateful for Strada's commitment to ensuring a smooth leadership transition.
Pike, 50, was injected with two doses of pentobarbital on Wednesday night. Prison officials used at least seven needles while attempting to find a vein, according to a Friday court filing from her lawyers. The filing described Pike crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly during the execution.
She was taken to a hospital, where she had to be intubated and placed on a ventilator, her legal team said. The lawyers also claimed in the court filing that prison staff did not correctly place the IV lines and failed to realize that one of Pike's veins had burst, allowing at least some of the pentobarbital to enter her body.
Pike's four-person legal team welcomed Strada's resignation but said it did not go far enough. «What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,» the lawyers said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press. «We hope the governor's call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee's entire death penalty system.»
Strada became commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced that Tennessee would use pentobarbital as its sole execution drug. Four people have been executed in Tennessee since last year, according to the department.
The failed execution has drawn renewed attention to Pike's underlying conviction. On the evening of Jan. 12, 1995, Pike, then 18, lured 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer into a wooded area near the University of Tennessee's agricultural campus. Pike and her boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, spent 30 minutes torturing Slemmer while 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson served as a lookout.
According to her confession to authorities, Pike killed Slemmer because she believed Slemmer was interested in her boyfriend romantically. Shipp directly participated in the murder but was ineligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time. He was sentenced to life in prison with parole, which he has not yet received. Peterson, who cooperated with investigators and testified against Pike and Shipp, pleaded guilty to being an accessory and was given 460 days in jail.
Pike was the only person in the case sentenced to death and became one of the youngest women sent to death row. She would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.
The resignation comes as Tennessee's execution protocol faces intensifying scrutiny. The independent review ordered by the governor is expected to examine the events of Wednesday night, including the repeated attempts to establish IV access and the decision to proceed with the lethal injection despite apparent difficulties. The findings could have implications for other pending executions in the state and for the department's leadership as it transitions to new oversight.