Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said corrections commissioner Frank Strada has resigned after a failed lethal injection left Christa Pike gravely ill, and the governor has paused executions for the rest of 2026.
Tennessee's corrections chief will leave office this month after a failed lethal injection, state officials said on Saturday. Reuters reported that Governor Bill Lee said Frank Strada has resigned as commissioner of the Department of Correction.
The attempt on Wednesday to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville left her unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator, her lawyers wrote in a Friday court filing cited by Reuters. It was the state's second failed execution attempt this year.
Lee has halted further attempts to carry out the death penalty for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review of the Riverbend procedure. An interim commissioner will be named later, the governor's office said.
Strada said in a separate statement that he believes agency personnel followed protocol, but that stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans while the review proceeds.
The resignation does not itself decide Pike's legal status. Further court filings and the independent review are the next verified steps.
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- Governor Bill Lee said Strada has resigned and ordered an independent review.
- Strada said personnel followed protocol but that stepping aside serves the review.
- Pike's lawyers said she was left unconscious and on a ventilator.