Tennessee prison chief to resign after Christa Pike's failed execution
The head of prisons in the US state of Tennessee is resigning after the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike on Wednesday.
Strada said that his stepping down is "in the best interests" of the state, and called the ongoing investigation into the incident "entirely appropriate and necessary".
"Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment," Lee said.
Attorneys for Pike called the resignation "justified" but said "it does nothing to help Christa now".
Pike is being treated at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where doctors are attempting to clear the drugs used during the execution from her body, according to legal filings.
As of Thursday night, she was unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator.
Authorities have not yet said whether they will try again to execute Pike. They have also not offered an explanation for what went wrong. Her lawyers filed an emergency motion on Friday to preserve "any and all evidence" related to her failed execution.
The attempted execution went ahead after multiple failed, last-minute legal challenges by Pike's lawyers.
Tennessee's governor also denied a clemency request from Pike, the only woman on the state's death row.
She was sentenced to death the following year after a media frenzy around the killing in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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- The head of prisons in the US state of Tennessee is resigning after the failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike on Wednesday.
- Strada said that his stepping down is "in the best interests" of the state, and called the ongoing investigation into the incident "entirely appropriate and necessary".
- "Commissioner Strada has served with integrity, and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment," Lee said.
- Attorneys for Pike called the resignation "justified" but said "it does nothing to help Christa now".
- Pike is being treated at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where doctors are attempting to clear the drugs used during the execution from her body, according to legal filings.