Prison chief who oversaw five botched executions including Christa Pikes' resigns
Tennessee's prisons chief has resigned after the failed execution of Christa Pike on 30 September.
Frank Strada has stepped down from his post after Pike's lethal injection attempts went wrong, leading to her to be taken to hospital where she remains 'critical'.
Strada will leave his role this month after being the residing commissioner of Tennessee's Department of Correction for the past three years, and also in the role when the May execution of Tony Carruthers, was called off due to problems finding a vein for his lethal injection.
Last year in October, the lawyer of convicted child killer Byron Black alleged he showed signs of ‘sustained cardiac activity’ two minutes after he was pronounced dead after his execution.
Advert
Prior to his death, Black had a defibrillator implanted in his chest, which was the topic of concern for his legal team and the implications for a complication-free passing.
Similarly, Pike’s legal team petitioned to stop her execution months before it was scheduled to go ahead due to her apparent thin veins and blood clotting disorder, which an expert recently described as being what potentially stopped her from dying even after the 50-year-old was given two doses of pentobarbital, a lethal drug.
Shortly after Pike’s failed execution, an independent review was launched to find out what happened, per state governor Bill Lee.
Currently, Pike is on a ventilator and unconscious, her lawyers say, with burns to her arms due to the effects of the legal injections.
In a statement, Strada called his resignation 'the best interest of Tennesseans’.
"I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred," he added of the review.
However, per Sky News, Pikes legal team said his resignation ‘does nothing to help Christa now’, adding: "What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person.
"We hope the governor's call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee's entire death penalty system."
Strada took over the department in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Correction – where similar concerns were made.
Under Strada, there had been three botched Arizona executions.
This includes the May 2022 execution of Clarence Dixon, the June 2022 execution of Frank Atwood, and the November 2022 execution of Murray Hooper.
All allegedly were botched due to troubles finding a suitable vein to insert the drug.
Also under Strada, the Guardian reports Tennessee removed a key training requirement for those who inject the lethal injections, per Kit Thomas, a death row attorney.
Thomas said: “No IV is inserted into the person playing the role of the inmate. He reduced the training requirements and we’ve seen disastrous results.
He added. “He oversaw executions in Arizona which involved prolonged, torturous attempts to establish IV lines, and he brought a similar practice here.”
Strada went on to change its lethal injection protocol one year after his hiring, and instead of a three-drug injection, they would only use pentobarbital.
Pike has been the only woman on death row in Tennessee for 30 years and was set to become the first to be executed in the state in over 200 years.
She was convicted in 1996 of killing her classmate, Colleen Slemmer, and ever since her date was set, Pike’s legal team have tried time and time again to stop the planned death from occurring.
Pike was 18 at the time when she was convicted of killing Slemmer, with her then-boyfriend, 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp.
She was sentenced to death.
Britt Jones