Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to oversee an independent investigation into the state’s failed execution attempt involving death row inmate Christa Pike. The announcement came just hours after Tennessee’s prison commissioner resigned Saturday.
Stanton, who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee from 2010 to 2017, will examine the Department of Correction’s handling of Pike’s execution and determine whether officials followed established procedures, Lee’s office said.
The former federal prosecutor previously conducted an independent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures in 2022. That investigation began after state officials discovered that drugs used in earlier executions had not been properly tested, WKRN-TV reported.
The discovery prompted Lee to suspend all executions in Tennessee for the rest of 2022, including the scheduled execution of death row inmate Oscar Smith. The halt ultimately remained in place for nearly three years.
Following Stanton’s review, Tennessee officials “substantially rewrote the protocol before executions resumed” in February 2025, according to the governor’s office.
Under the revised procedure, the state replaced its previous three-drug combination—which included a paralytic—with a single dose of pentobarbital. That same drug was administered to Pike on Wednesday.
The updated lethal injection procedure was adopted by Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada, who announced Saturday that he would resign in the wake of Pike’s botched execution.
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Pike was convicted of brutally killing a teenage classmate in 1995. She remains alive but is unconscious, intubated and dependent on a ventilator, her attorneys said.
Despite his resignation, Strada said he still “believe[s] the Department carried out its responsibilities in accordance with the established protocol.”
He nevertheless endorsed the investigation, describing it as “entirely appropriate and necessary.” Strada also said, “I look forward to doing everything I can to help determine exactly what occurred,” according to WKRN.
Lee’s office said Stanton will also assess whether further changes are needed to ensure Tennessee’s execution procedure remains “lawful and effective.”
A group of Tennessee death row prisoners sued the state after officials announced the single-drug procedure in December 2024. The inmates argued that the new method could violate constitutional protections.
Opponents of the death penalty also raised objections, noting that the federal government had stopped using single-dose pentobarbital executions. They cited uncertainty over whether the drug could cause unnecessary pain and suffering, WKRN reported.
Lee’s announcement came days after Pike received two doses of the lethal injection and survived. She was the first woman Tennessee had planned to execute in more than 200 years. The state also faced another failed execution attempt earlier this year.
Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of murder and kidnapping, was scheduled to die by lethal injection in May. Lee halted the execution and granted him a one-year reprieve after prison officials could not locate a vein to place a backup IV as required under the protocol.
