Tennessee’s prison chief is resigning after the state’s failed attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Pike, who survived two doses of a lethal injection drug and remains in critical condition.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, will leave his post this month, Governor Bill Lee announced as an independent investigation examines what happened.
“Stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward,” Mr Strada said in a statement.
He said he still believed the department had fulfilled its responsibilities under established protocol, but described the investigation as “entirely appropriate and necessary”. An interim commissioner will be appointed at a later date.
Mr Lee said: “Commissioner Strada has served with integrity and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment.”
Ms Pike, 50, was due to be executed on Wednesday but survived after receiving two doses of pentobarbital. Her lawyers said on Friday that she was unconscious and being kept on a ventilator in hospital.
Tennessee authorities have not explained why the lethal injection failed. The incident has prompted renewed debate over the death penalty and execution methods in the United States.
Ms Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 when the crime took place, and Ms Slemmer was tortured and killed in a remote area near the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
