Tennessee Department of Corrections chief Frank Strada will step down following a failed execution of death row inmate Christa Pike, Governor Bill Lee said on Saturday.
Pike, arrested for killing Colleen Slemmer in 1996, survived two lethal injections and is in critical condition at a Tennessee hospital while her lawyers attempt to commute her sentence.
Strada said his resignation is "in the best interests of the state" and that the investigation into the incident is "entirely appropriate and necessary".
The failed execution has spotlighted problems in Tennessee’s death penalty process and raised questions about oversight, security and whether the state will continue to carry out capital punishment.
