Tennessee Correction Chief Resigns After Botched Execution

Frank Strada resigned from his position as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction following the failed execution of Christa Pike, a convicted murderer who survived two injections of the lethal drug pentobarbital. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced Strada's resignation on a Saturday, stating he would leave his role later in the month.

The governor has ordered an independent review of the execution failure, which occurred on a Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. Pike, 50, was left unconscious and on a ventilator in a hospital as medical staff worked to save her life.

She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. This incident marks the second failed execution in Tennessee in 2026.

Governor Lee, who previously denied Pike’s clemency request, has suspended all further executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year while the review is conducted. Strada stated that he believed the Department of Correction followed established protocols and that his resignation was in the best interest of the state.