Tennessee correction commissioner Frank Strada will leave this month after Wednesday's failed lethal injection of Christa Pike. Governor Bill Lee has paused executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, has resigned and will leave this month, Governor Bill Lee said on Saturday, 3 October 2026. The departure follows a failed lethal injection of Christa Pike on Wednesday at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Reuters reported that Pike was left unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator. The New York Times, citing her lawyers' court filings, said that as of Thursday evening she had burns and blisters on both arms after surviving two doses of pentobarbital. It was the state's second failed execution attempt this year.
Lee has halted executions for the rest of 2026 and ordered an independent review. Strada said stepping aside was in the best interest of Tennesseans while that review proceeds. He said he still believed staff followed the protocol.
Lee had said on Thursday that, so far as the state knew, the department followed the protocol vetted by the attorney general's office. He announced the resignation two days later. An interim commissioner had not been named.
Pike's lawyers described her condition in court filings. The independent review had not reported findings by Sunday.
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- Strada said resigning was in the best interest of Tennesseans while the review proceeds
- Lee said the department had, so far as known, followed the approved protocol