Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will leave his post this month as the state investigates why a lethal injection failed to execute death row inmate Christa Pike.

Gov. Bill Lee announced Strada’s resignation Saturday, the first major leadership change since the Wednesday execution attempt left Pike hospitalized and on a ventilator. Strada said stepping down was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while an independent review examines what went wrong. The state administered two doses of pentobarbital, but Pike survived and was taken to a hospital.

“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. He maintained that the state “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.”

Pike remained unconscious and on a ventilator in the hours after the failed execution, according to her attorneys. Hospital staff were working to save her life and, as of late Thursday, were attempting to clear the pentobarbital from her system. Lee has ordered an independent investigation and suspended additional executions while the review proceeds.

Pike’s attorneys welcomed the resignation but said it does not address what happened to their client, calling the episode a systemic failure beyond any one person. They have alleged that problems with the IV lines caused the drug to enter her body improperly rather than her bloodstream, a claim the independent review is expected to examine.

Strada became commissioner in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced Tennessee would use pentobarbital as its sole execution drug. Four people have been executed in the state since 2025.

Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. She was 18 at the time of the killing and became one of the youngest women sentenced to death in the United States.