Tennessee Prison System Head to Resign After Failed Execution of Christa Pike

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday that the state’s prison system chief will resign following the botched execution of Krista Pike.

Lee said Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada will step down from his post this month.

Strada added in a statement that his resignation “is in the best interest” of the state, as an independent review is underway to determine the causes of the failed execution of Pike on Wednesday.

Hospital staff and Pike’s lawyers said they had been working to save her life, and late into Thursday they were still trying to remove the two doses of the state’s execution drug from her body.

The sudden failure of the execution inside Tennessee’s execution chamber on Wednesday sparked calls from both supporters and opponents of the death penalty for answers about what happened. The governor ordered an independent review of the incident.

Pike’s lawyers said they believe problems with the intravenous injection lines caused the drug pentobarbital to leak into her body rather than enter her bloodstream.

In a motion filed with the court, her lawyers wrote: “It appears that at no time did any member of the execution team realize that the intravenous lines were not properly placed, that the veins were damaged, and that the pentobarbital was entering, wholly or partially, Ms. Pike’s body.”

Pike, then 18, along with her boyfriend, tortured and killed their classmate, Colleen Slemmer, out of intense jealousy. She later became one of the youngest women on death row.