Source : Perth Now news
The head of Tennessee’s prison system is resigning following the US state’s botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike, who survived two doses of a lethal injection drug and is now in critical condition.
Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada will leave his post this month, Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday, as an independent investigation examines what went wrong during the execution attempt.
“Stepping aside is in the best interest of Tennesseans as the independent review moves forward,” Strada said in a statement.
He said he continued to believe the department had carried out its responsibilities in accordance with established protocol but called the review “entirely appropriate and necessary”.
“Commissioner Strada has served with integrity and I appreciate his willingness to put the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment,” the governor said.
An interim commissioner will be named at a later date.
Pike, 50, was due to be executed on Wednesday but survived after receiving two lethal injections.
Her lawyers said on Friday that she is unconscious and on a ventilator in hospital.
Tennessee authorities have yet to explain why Pike survived despite receiving two doses of pentobarbital, the drug intended to kill her.
Lee ordered an independent investigation into the incident, which has since reignited debate over the death penalty and methods of execution in the United States.
Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
She was 18 years old at the time of the crime.
Slemmer was tortured and killed in a remote area near the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
