Christa Pike remains alive but unconscious and intubated after her failed execution on Wednesday, her lawyers said. Frank Strada, who oversaw the process that left Christa Pike unconscious and hospitalized, quit as an independent review begins. Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada submitted his resignation on Saturday, Gov. Bill Lee announced.
The botched lethal injection of Christa Pike led to the halting of all scheduled executions in the state. Frank Strada leaving position as state launches independent investigation into what went wrong. The stunning failure in Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers.
Strada handed in his resignation amid intensifying scrutiny of Tennessee’s closely guarded execution procedures after Pike was injected with lethal drugs on Wednesday but survived. Pike, 50, survived two injections of the normally lethal substance pentobarbital as punishment for the murder of Colleen Slemmer in 1995.
Pike's attorneys, Randy Spivey, Kelly Gleason, Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen, responded to the Strada stepping down in their own statement. The Tennessee governor's statement on Saturday did not directly reference the situation with Pike.
What could happen next
- Lee said in a statement that commissioner Frank Strada would leave his post this month.
