Tennessee corrections commissioner to resign after botched Christa Pike execution

The head of Tennessee’s corrections department will step down following the state’s botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike this week.

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada submitted his resignation on Saturday, Gov. Bill Lee (R-Tenn.) announced.

“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” Lee said in a statement shared by his office.

“I have accepted his decision to step down and am grateful for his commitment to ensuring a smooth leadership transition,” the governor continued. “I thank Commissioner Strada for his dedicated service to Tennessee and pray God’s blessings over him in the days ahead.”

Strada has served in this role since Lee appointed him as commissioner in 2023. Previously, he was the deputy director at the Arizona Department of Corrections and worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons for 30 years.

In a statement shared by the governor’s office, the commissioner called his time overseeing the department “a great honor,” and expressed his support for the independent investigation ordered by Lee into the failed execution attempt.

“I continue to believe the Department carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol,” Strada said.

“Even so, stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward,” he continued. “I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred.”

Lee ordered that Pike’s execution be delayed until at least next year after she survived two lethal injection attempts on Wednesday. Pike’s lawyers said during a Thursday press conference she was receiving “ lifesaving care ” in the hospital.

Attorney Randy Spivey, who witnessed the execution attempt, said state executioners “attempted to establish an IV line for an hour,” and used seven needles in Pike’s left arm alone.

“The state of Tennessee has shown us again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity,” Spivey said. “Last night was not just inefficient. It was cruel and it was torturous.”

Pike was convicted in the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville, Tenn., with her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Shipp was not eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the crime and is serving out a life sentence in prison.

Earlier this year, the governor granted a one-year reprieve for another death row inmate after state executioners failed to locate a vein for a lethal injection in Tony Carruthers.

Lee said in his Friday statement an interim commissioner would be announced “at a later date.”