Tennessee
Tennessee’s prison chief resigned after Christa Pike survived.
Frank Strada will leave later this month. He said the department followed protocol. Gov. Bill Lee accepted the resignation and has ordered a review.
The Rocket News · National Desk · NashvilleOctober 4, 2026 · 4 min read
NASHVILLE — Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction, resigned on Saturday, days after the state failed to execute Christa Pike. Gov. Bill Lee said Strada will step down later this month. No replacement was named.
Pike, 50, was to have been put to death on Sept. 30 for a murder she committed at 18 in 1995. She survived two doses of pentobarbital. Her lawyers said on Friday that she was unconscious and on a ventilator at a Nashville-area hospital. USA Today and The Tennessean reported the resignation.
Strada said leaving was in the best interest of Tennesseans as an independent review goes forward, and that the department had followed its protocol. Lee said he accepted the decision and thanked Strada for his service. Lee has ordered a review and halted the remaining executions this year. The States desk files the resignation. The governor polls are on the front.
Wire and further reading: usatoday.com
Filed under States
Keep reading
Texas
A judge halted the border wall in the Big Bend sector.
Judge Kathleen Cardone, in El Paso, said on Friday the government may not build there while the case goes on. The order covers the stretch the plaintiffs sued to protect.
Tennessee
Tennessee paused executions after Christa Pike survived.
She was still alive after two doses of pentobarbital. Gov. Bill Lee called off the remaining execution this year and ordered a review.
New York
They killed the painter of the Ramble.
Francis Lee Rogers, 63, lived in Central Park and painted its birds. She was found dead Sunday in the gazebo where she slept. Jonathan Robles, 36, is charged with murder.