Tennessee's prisons chief is resigning after the failed execution of Christa Pike

The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday, the first major staff shake-up since Christa Pike's stunning failed execution left her unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital.

Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Lee said. Some of the governor's fellow Republicans and other elected officials had been urging a change in leadership.

It was the second time since May that Tennessee has not been able to execute a prisoner who was seemingly moments away from death.

The governor also announced that former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton would lead a review of what happened in Pike's death chamber. Stanton previously was named to conduct a review after Lee called off a different execution; he found in that case that Tennessee had not complied with its own lethal injection process.

Strada said in a statement that resigning was "in the best interest of Tennesseans" while Stanton's review is conducted. The state failed to execute Pike despite administering two doses of a lethal drug, pentobarbital.

"I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred," Strada said.

Pike, now 50, was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a jealous rage in 1995. She became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row.

There was no immediate response from Pike's lawyers for an update Saturday on her condition at a hospital. They had disclosed Friday that she was on a ventilator and unconscious in the hours following the execution attempt and that hospital staff were trying to clear the two doses of pentobarbital.

The shocking failure has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers. Lee has ordered an independent review and halted any new executions. Strada said he believes the state "carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol."

Pike's legal team welcomed Strada's departure but said "it does nothing to help Christa now."

"What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person," the four-lawyer team said. "We hope the governor's call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee's entire death penalty system."