US prison chief resigns after botched execution attempt
The Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada has resigned following a botched execution attempt that left inmate Christa Pike in critical condition. Governor Bill Lee has suspended all further executions in the state pending an independent review of the incident.
Why it matters
This incident highlights ongoing ethical and procedural controversies surrounding the death penalty and the reliability of lethal injection protocols in the United States.
THE PRISON CHIEF in the US state of Tennessee has resigned, after an unprecedented botched execution left a convicted murderer on a ventilator in critical condition.
Christa Pike (50) on Wednesday survived two lethal injections of phenobarbital, a drug that suppresses nervous system activity.
Media witnesses listened to her snoring for about an hour after being administered the deadly doses, and said she was alive as they were ushered out of the execution chamber viewing area at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Pike was taken to a hospital where she was “critically ill,” unconscious and on a ventilator as medical staff worked to clear the phenobarbital from her system, her lawyers said in a court filing Friday.
Now Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada is set to leave his post this month.
Also covering this story
17 other newsrooms covered this event. We read each version separately.
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