Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will resign, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday – three days after a botched execution attempt left Christa Pike on a ventilator in critical condition. Strada offered his resignation, and the governor accepted, the news release said. Strada will step down from his role this month.
Pike, sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, had exhausted all appeals before her scheduled execution Wednesday. The execution was halted after two failed rounds of a lethal injection protocol over a two-hour period. Media witnesses were then asked to leave the building. They reported Pike was making audible noises as they exited. Pike remains in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Pike’s was the second botched execution in Tennessee under Strada’s leadership. In May, the execution of Tony Carruthers was halted after officials said they were unable to find a vein after trying for an hour and a half. As chief of the correction department, Strada oversees state executions.
In announcing his resignation, Lee said Strada had served “with integrity.” “I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” read the statement from Lee. Before Lee hired him in 2023, Strada served as a deputy commissioner in Arizona, where he oversaw three executions marked by problems.
Lee has ordered a third-party review of Pike’s attempted execution and a pause on all executions in Tennessee through the end of the year. An interim commissioner will be announced at a later date, the governor’s news release said.
