The head of Tennessee's prison system is resigning, Gov. Bill Lee announced Saturday, the first major shake-up since the stunning failed execution of Christa Pike landed her on a ventilator at a hospital.
Frank Strada, commissioner of the Department of Correction, will step down this month, Lee said.
Strada said in a statement that resigning was “in the best interest of Tennesseans” while an independent review determines what happened Wednesday when the state failed to execute Pike despite administering two doses of a lethal drug.
“I believe this review is entirely appropriate and necessary, and I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred,” Strada said.
Pike was taken to a hospital, where she was on a ventilator and unconscious in the following hours, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.
Hospital staff were working to save Pike’s life and, as of late Thursday, were trying to clear the two doses of pentobarbital, which the state uses to execute prisoners, lawyers said.
The shocking failure has left both sides of the death penalty debate demanding answers. Lee has ordered an independent review and halted any new executions. Strada said he believes the state “carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.”
Pike's legal team welcomed Strada's departure but said “it does nothing to help Christa now.”
“What happened to her Wednesday reflects a systemic failure that goes far beyond any one person,” the four-lawyer team said. “We hope the governor’s call for a full, independent review will expose the profound problems within Tennessee’s entire death penalty system.”
Pike’s attorneys said they believed problems with the IV lines caused the pentobarbital to flow into her body instead of her bloodstream.
Strada took over the Correction Department in January 2023 after serving as deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In late 2024, he announced that Tennessee was changing its lethal injection protocol and would use only pentobarbital.
Four people have been executed in Tennessee since 2025, according to the Correction Department.
Pike was 18 when she and her boyfriend tortured and killed a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, in a jealous rage. She later became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row.
FILE - Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada speaks to the media after the execution of Harold Wayne Nichols, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
LONDON (AP) — Anti-immigration Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage was ignored when he complained of threats to his safety, his deputy said Saturday after the man accused of killing former British politician Ann Widdecombe was charged with plotting a terror attack against Farage.
Richard Tice said Farage had discussed the risks to his security many times over the years and the charge amounts to a wake-up call.
“What’s particularly upsetting for those of us in and around him is sometimes he’s not being believed, not being listened to,” Tice told the BBC.
Joshua Kerry, 28, was charged with one count of preparation of terrorist acts, including against Farage, the Crown Prosecution Service said Friday.
Authorities did not release additional information about the charge, but counterterrorism police in August said they had reopened a probe into an alleged firebomb attack at Farage's south London home.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood expressed sympathy for Farage and his family.
"I know the new charges made today will be extremely concerning," Mahmood said on X. “Let no one make any mistake: an attack on anyone in politics is an attack on us all."
Mahmood said she would work to strengthen protections for politicians after Parliament returns from recess on Oct. 12.
Kerry was previously charged with murder in the July 8 beating death of Widdecombe, who was found dead in her house in an isolated southwest England village.
Widdecombe, 78, was a spokesperson for the Reform Party after a long career as a Conservative member of Parliament and government minister known for her blunt-spoken, socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.
She later found fame as a contestant on the reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother” and returned to politics.
Widdecombe's killing renewed concerns over the security for politicians, which had been tightened in the past decade after the murders of two prominent MPs. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
Tice said the party had a series of high-level meetings with the government about security and that authorities had shifted their approach to treat threats more seriously.
Kerry is due to appear Wednesday in Westminster Magistrates' Court on the new charge.
Britain's Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage speaks at the Reform UK First 100 Days rally, in Doncaster, England, Thursday Oct. 1, 2026. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)
