Tennessee's prison commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation on Saturday following the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee said. Strada's stepping down is "in the best interests" of the state, according to a joint statement from both officials.
Pike, sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, survived two injections of pentobarbital on Wednesday. She remained alive after receiving both lethal doses and was transported by ambulance to a Nashville hospital, where she is in critical condition and on a ventilator. Her lawyers reported she "could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly throughout the procedure."
As of Thursday night, Pike was unconscious and intubated. Doctors are attempting to clear the drugs from her body, according to legal filings. The state has not explained what went wrong or whether another execution attempt will be made. Pike's attorneys have filed an emergency motion to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution.
Pike's legal team had warned before the execution that her medical history posed risks. She has thrombocytosis, a blood-clotting condition, and small veins, her lawyers said, which created a risk of "unnecessary" pain and suffering during lethal injection. Pike's clemency request was denied by Governor Lee. The US Supreme Court rejected two separate efforts to stop the execution.
In response to the failed execution, Lee has ordered an independent review and halted all executions in Tennessee for the remainder of the year. Strada said the ongoing investigation into the incident is "entirely appropriate and necessary." Lee said Strada "has served with integrity" and thanked him for putting "the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment."
The Tennessee Department of Correction has defended its execution protocol, stating "the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out." Pike, the only woman on Tennessee's death row, was 18 years old when she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat and tortured Slemmer in Knoxville in 1995. A media frenzy surrounded the case before her death sentence the following year.