Strada's record: five 'botched' executions across two states since 2022

Pike becomes first US death row prisoner to survive injection

Christa Pike’s lawyers said Friday that the 50-year-old remained unconscious and on a ventilator, two days after the failed execution that has drawn international attention to Tennessee’s death penalty practices. Witnesses said Pike was heard choking and struggling for about an hour after receiving the first injection of pentobarbital, a sedative, and was hospitalized in critical condition after a second dose also failed to kill her. Stephen Ferrell, a federal defender and one of Pike’s attorneys, told reporters Thursday that the state should answer for the procedure. “We are kept in the dark,” he said at a press conference. “Our predictions are downplayed, and yet they continue to come true. Tennessee should not be torturing its citizens in the name of justice.”

Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 at age 20 for the murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Her case is the latest in a series of contested lethal injections under Strada’s leadership. Court filings and witness accounts reviewed by The Guardian detail three Arizona executions during Strada’s tenure as deputy prison director that the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit that studies capital punishment, classified as “botched.” The center’s researchers define a botched execution as one involving a breakdown in protocol, unexpected problems, or delays that cause needless suffering; the term is not a legal one.

In the May 2022 execution of Clarence Dixon in Arizona, a media witness said the execution team struggled to place IVs and ultimately made an incision near his groin to insert a line — a process that took roughly 40 minutes, according to his attorneys. In June 2022, Frank Atwood, a 66-year-old death row prisoner with a degenerative spinal condition, had to help executioners locate a vein after officials repeatedly struggled. And in November 2022, Arizona officials struggled to find a vein in Murray Hooper and ultimately inserted a catheter into his groin. After Strada left Arizona, corrections officials there made changes including increasing the size of the IV team and requiring more rigorous training, records show.

In May of this year, another execution under Strada’s Tennessee leadership failed. Officials struggled for more than an hour to locate a vein in death row prisoner Tony Carruthers, prompting them to call off the procedure. The Death Penalty Information Center said it had received no public explanation of what went wrong or what corrective action was taken. “We saw no information about why this had gone wrong and no explanation or corrective action to ensure that wouldn’t happen another time,” said Robin Maher, the center’s executive director. “Governor Lee should urge his officials to be forthcoming about all the mistakes that may have been made and to accept responsibility for whatever went wrong with these executions,” she continued.

Strada was appointed to lead Tennessee’s prison system in early 2023 by Governor Lee, a Republican, despite the Arizona record and a 2022 state-commissioned independent report that had found Tennessee had failed to follow protocol in several executions, had not properly tested drugs, and had a “tunnel-vision, result-oriented” approach. The report recommended that the state hire a full-time employee or consultant with a pharmaceutical background to provide guidance on the lethal injection process, and a full-time employee or consultant to assist with locating lethal injection sources. In a November 2025 deposition reviewed by death row attorneys, Strada acknowledged he had not implemented those recommendations. After joining Arizona’s corrections department in 2020, Strada oversaw executions, which included forming the teams that carried out the procedures, monitoring the practices and obtaining lethal injection drugs, he said in a deposition.

Kit Thomas, a Tennessee death row attorney, said Strada had also weakened execution training. Before Strada joined Tennessee’s corrections department, execution team members were directed to practice catheterization with saline. Under Strada, the requirement was eliminated; updated training guidelines state: “No IV is inserted into the person playing the role of the inmate.” “He reduced the training requirements and we’ve seen disastrous results,” Thomas said. “He oversaw executions in Arizona which involved prolonged, torturous attempts to establish IV lines, and he brought a similar practice here.” Tennessee’s protocol under Strada continues to require only two people on the IV team, mirroring the older Arizona policy that Arizona’s corrections department later expanded after his departure, according to Thomas.

In the same November 2025 deposition, Strada was asked by death row attorneys what he considered a successful execution. He responded: “The condemned is put to death.” When a lawyer followed up, asking “Anything else?”, Strada replied: “No.” Thomas said the response indicated Strada had “no regard for the experience of the individual being executed other than that they end up dead.”

Dale Baich, who represented Arizona death row prisoners during Strada’s time there, said the pattern of executioners struggling to find veins suggested the team members were not qualified. “If your job is to access veins, you should be able to do that,” Baich said. “To me, it indicated the department of corrections did not properly vet those team members.” A 2023 declaration by Arizona’s corrections director said the department’s review of execution procedures had identified “several critical issues,” including “inadequate knowledge and expertise” of execution personnel, concerns about the IV team’s procedures, and concerns about the efficacy of the drugs.

Prison officials have not publicly addressed what went wrong in Pike’s execution. Some outside experts have questioned whether the pentobarbital used could have been degraded or may have failed to properly enter her bloodstream, instead seeping into surrounding tissue, according to reporting by The Guardian. Tennessee keeps secret the identities of people involved in executions and basic facts about the drugs it uses, a practice that has drawn criticism from Pike’s attorneys and from reporters who witnessed the procedure. Thomas noted that Strada had previously declined to answer questions about whether he was using the same drug supplier he used in Arizona, whether the supplier had complied with Food and Drug Administration rules, and whether the state had procedures to ensure the lethal injection chemicals had not been adulterated.

Governor Lee has defended the protocol while ordering the inquiry. Asked about Strada’s leadership, Lee told reporters: “So far as we know, the department of correction followed exactly the protocol that was outlined.” A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Correction declined to answer questions about Strada’s record on Friday and said the commissioner was unavailable for an interview. A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to inquiries. Candidates running to replace Lee in the November midterms have said they would not keep Strada in the job if elected.

Pike’s lawyers have called for a national halt on executions, and one death penalty expert quoted by The Guardian described the failed procedure as the worst botched execution in modern history. Ferrell, Pike’s attorney, expressed skepticism about the governor’s call for another independent inquiry, noting that the state’s 2022 investigation had resulted in continued secrecy. “What good is an independent investigation if those investigators provide recommendations that are ignored?” Thomas asked.