Tennessee prison chief who oversaw failed execution resigns

Tennessee's prison commissioner, Frank Strada, has resigned following a botched lethal injection execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike. According to Governor Bill Lee, Strada will leave his position at the end of the month.

Strada stated that his resignation was in the best interest of Tennesseans, allowing an independent review into the failed execution to move forward. The review was prompted after Pike was injected with lethal drugs on September 30 but survived and was hospitalized, currently unconscious and on a ventilator.

The Governor accepted Strada's resignation, stating that he had served with integrity and was putting the interests of Tennesseans first during this difficult moment. An interim commissioner will be announced at a later date.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Punch, The Guardian US, ABC News (US), South China Morning Post — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.