Frank Strada, who has run the Tennessee Department of Correction since January 2023, is stepping down, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday, Oct. 3, after the failed lethal injection of death row inmate Christa Pike. It was the second failed execution in Tennessee this year, and Lee has paused all executions through the end of 2026.
Story Snapshot
- Strada’s resignation takes effect later in October. Lee said: “Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment.”
- Pike, 50, was given two doses of pentobarbital, a sedative drug the state uses in lethal injections, on Wednesday, Sept. 30. She did not die.
- Her lawyers said Saturday, Oct. 3, that she was critically ill, unconscious and on a ventilator. On Sunday, Oct. 4, her lawyer said she remained unconscious.
- Lee ordered an independent review of what went wrong.
What Happened At The Execution
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old classmate, in Knoxville. Pike was 18 at the time. Her lawyers say staff used at least seven needles in her left arm, that the drug did not reach her bloodstream the way it should, and that she could be heard breathing loudly and making noises as the attempt went on. The state stopped the execution and sent her to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where doctors have been working to clear the drug from her body.
Pike’s lawyers also said what happened to her “reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person.” The state has not released a full account of the attempt. The independent review Lee ordered is meant to find out what went wrong and why.
Why This Was Strada’s Second Failure
In May, the state halted the execution of Tony Carruthers after staff struggled for more than an hour to get an IV line into a vein. Lee did not order a review after that one. This time he did, and Strada is leaving. Before Tennessee, Strada was a corrections official in Arizona, and he was hired in 2023 after problems in the state’s execution system.
In 2022, Tennessee paused executions for an independent review of its lethal injection process. That review found flaws and recommended the state hire a pharmacy expert. Under oath, Strada acknowledged the state had not hired one and called the recommendation “not a requirement.”
What Comes Next
Pike remains in the hospital. Her lawyers have asked a court to preserve evidence from the attempt. A protocol is the written, step-by-step plan for carrying out an execution. Her lawyers say Tennessee’s plan does not clearly say what to do if a person is still alive after a second dose. An interim commissioner will be named later. No executions will take place in Tennessee through the end of 2026.
Sources:
nbcnews.com, cbc.ca, apnews.com, yahoo.com, edition.cnn.com, thehill.com, tennessean.com