Someone had to go amid this media circus surrounding Christa Pike’s execution last Wednesday night, which devolved into a shambles: she wouldn’t die. A full review has been ordered by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. If successful, Pike would’ve been the first woman executed in the state in over 200 years. Instead, she was rushed to the hospital and reportedly on a ventilator after two unsuccessful lethal injection attempts. Gov. Lee suspended the only other execution this year, and the prison chief will resign at the end of the month (via NYT):
Tennessee’s embattled prison chief, Frank Strada, will step down later this month after overseeing the botched execution of Christa Pike, Gov. Bill Lee said on Saturday.
Mr. Strada has been at the center of national backlash over Tennessee’s second failed attempt at lethal injection this year and has faced bipartisan calls for his resignation. His departure comes ahead of an independent investigation into what went wrong Wednesday, when Ms. Pike survived two doses of the drug pentobarbital.
As of Thursday evening, Ms. Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator, with burns and blisters on both her arms as a result of the failed execution, her lawyers said in court filings. All remaining executions this year have been paused.
Mr. Strada said his resignation was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while an independent review into Ms. Pike’s execution attempt proceeds. While he reiterated his belief that the department had followed the lethal-injection protocol, Mr. Strada said he supported the investigation and would cooperate.
The resignation was “justified,” Ms. Pike’s lawyers said in a joint statement. “But it does nothing to help Christa now.”
“What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” they said. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”
Several Tennessee Republicans, including Senator Marsha Blackburn, the party’s candidate for governor, had said that Mr. Strada should step down or be replaced when Mr. Lee’s term-limited tenure ends in the coming months. Mr. Lee had previously sidestepped a question about Mr. Strada’s tenure after the execution, echoing Mr. Strada’s defense of how the agency handled lethal injections.
“So far as we know, the Department of Correction followed exactly the protocol that was outlined and vetted and approved by the attorney general’s office,” Mr. Lee said on Thursday.
Two days later, however, he announced that Mr. Strada resigned.
I’m at a loss about the whole “helping” Christa part. She was condemned to death. There are other stories about there being no oxygen tanks or whatever in the chamber when things went awry. Why should they be there? The point was to kill this woman for the brutal torture and murder of Colleen Slemmer in 1995. Pike is a vicious killer who got what she deserved, and the state should still pursue executing her. It’s embarrassing that this execution was botched but work still needs to be done in the interests of justice. She must go NOW.
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