Tennessee police commissioner Frank Strada is stepping down from his position after overseeing the failed execution of inmate Christa Pike.
“I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” Governor Bill Lee said in a statement to The New York Times on Saturday, October 3, confirming Strada will leave his post later this month. “I have accepted his decision to step down and am grateful for his commitment to ensuring a smooth leadership transition.”
Strada, who was appointed by the governor in 2023, issued his own statement following his resignation.
“[I believe] the department carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol,” Strada noted to The Times, acknowledging that “stepping aside is in the best interest” of the state’s external investigation.
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.”
Pike, 50, had been scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, September 30, and was administered two lethal injections that ultimately failed to kill her. (Pike was convicted in 1996 of murdering her classmate Colleen Slemmer and sentenced to death.)
Shortly after the injections were administered, reporters in the viewing gallery described hearing Pike snoring and at one point complaining of pain. Pike was transported to a local hospital, and her attorneys have since filed to halt her execution.
The convicted murderer’s lawyers claimed in an emergency motion obtained by Us that Pike remains unconscious and on a ventilator after sustaining injuries on both arms during the execution attempt.
“As of last night, October 1, 2026, Ms. Pike remains critically ill and is being treated at a Nashville-area hospital,” the filing reads. “She is intubated, on a ventilator and remains unconscious.”
While the attorneys have recently called Strada’s resignation “justified,” they told The Times on Saturday that “it does nothing to help Christa.”
“What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” Pike’s attorneys claimed in a statement shared with The Times. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”
Both Lee, 66, and the Tennessee Department of Correction have previously stated that the execution attempt followed protocols.
“The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the state’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office,” a TDOC spokesperson told The Tennessean earlier this week. “The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening.”
