Tennessee Corrections Chief Resigns After 2 Pentobarbital Doses Fail to Execute Christa Pike

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Oct 6

Gov. Bill Lee said corrections chief Frank Strada will step down after Wednesday’s execution attempt on Christa Pike failed, leaving the 50-year-old unconscious on a ventilator in a Nashville hospital.
Two doses of pentobarbital did not cause death, prompting a state investigation into what went wrong during the lethal injection procedure.
Strada said he resigned in Tennesseans’ best interest and maintained the state had followed established protocol.
Executions in Tennessee are now on hold as authorities review Pike’s case, which stems from her 1996 first-degree murder conviction.

Sources

Left20%

Center80%

Could the rising rate of botched lethal injections finally force the justice system to abandon the practice entirely?

What hidden physiological factors cause supposedly foolproof lethal injections to fail so catastrophically in modern executions?

With medical professionals banned from participating, who is truly accountable when a state's execution protocol goes horrifyingly wrong?