Tennessee: The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee announced Saturday.
Lee said that Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will step down this month. After two doses of lethal injection drugs administered to Pike failed, Lee had earlier ordered a third-party review and halted all scheduled executions in the state.
Strada said in a statement that stepping aside “is in the best interests” of the state as an independent review is carried out to determine why Pike's execution failed Wednesday.
“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” Lee said.
Pike was placed on a ventilator and remained unconscious in a hospital, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.
Christa Pike, a murder convict in the US, was reportedly taken to a hospital on Thursday after she survived a second dose of lethal injection.
According to news agency AP, Pike's legal team filed a motion to halt the execution, stating she still had a heartbeat and was snoring during the procedure in Tennessee.
Robin M Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in the US, said Pike's experience was 'singular and unparalleled', reported AP.
She is being treated at a hospital, though her condition remains unclear. Pike would have been the first woman to be executed in the state in more than 200 years.
(With inputs from agencies)
