The head of Tennessee’s state prison system has resigned following a botched execution that left death row inmate Christa Pike in critical condition.
Governor Bill Lee confirmed the departure of Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada in a joint statement released on Saturday.
Strada said his resignation was “in the best interests” of the state, adding that a thorough investigation into the failed execution was necessary.
Lee praised Strada’s service and ordered all scheduled executions in Tennessee to be suspended for the rest of the year as authorities conduct an independent review of the incident.
Pike, 50, survived two attempts to administer a lethal injection of pentobarbital on Wednesday.
According to court documents filed by her defence team, Pike was heard whimpering, crying and gasping for breath during the procedure.
Emergency medical crews later took her to a hospital in Nashville, where she remains unconscious, intubated and on a ventilator as doctors work to remove the drugs from her system.
Authorities have not explained what caused the failure during the execution. The Department of Correction has defended the staff involved, saying officers followed established state procedures, which do not allow additional steps once the standard doses have been administered.
Pike’s lawyers filed an emergency motion on Friday seeking to compel the state to preserve all evidence linked to the execution attempt.
Her legal team welcomed Strada’s resignation but said it did not address what they described as wider problems with Tennessee’s death penalty system.
Pike’s lawyers had previously warned state officials that her medical conditions, including unusually small veins and thrombocytosis, a blood-clotting disorder, could increase the risk of complications during a lethal injection.
Pike was convicted in 1996 over the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville. She is the only woman currently on Tennessee’s death row.
Her execution went ahead after the US Supreme Court rejected two last-minute requests to halt it and Governor Lee denied her clemency petition.
Pike’s lawyers are now asking the state to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. State officials have not said whether they plan to set a new execution date.