Tennessee prisons chief to resign after failed execution attempt
Governor Bill Lee announced that correction commissioner Frank Strada would step down after Christa Pike survived two lethal injections. An investigation is under way.
Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada is set to resign after the failed execution attempt of death row inmate Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday, according to BBC reporting citing its US partner CBS News. No effective date for Strada’s departure was given.
Pike survived two lethal injections during the attempt on Wednesday and is reported to be in critical condition in a Tennessee hospital.
Strada said stepping down was “in the best interests” of the state. He described the investigation into the incident as “entirely appropriate and necessary”.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of Colleen Slemmer. Her lawyers are seeking to commute her sentence as the investigation continues.
