Tennessee prison system head to resign after failed Christa Pike execution
Updated on: October 3, 2026 / 12:10 PM EDT / CBS News
TL;DR
- Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada is resigning.
- The resignation follows a failed lethal injection execution of Christa Pike.
- Governor Bill Lee announced Strada's departure, effective this month.
- Strada believes the department followed protocol but is stepping aside for an independent review.
- Pike's attorneys reported she is unconscious, intubated, and has significant injuries from the failed execution.
- Pike was to be the first woman executed in Tennessee since the 1800s.
- She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer.
- All remaining executions scheduled in Tennessee for the year have been canceled.