Tennessee's governor candidates quickly distanced themselves from Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner Frank Strada after Christa Pike's botched execution.
Democratic nominee Jerri Green called Oct. 2 for his immediate resignation. Spokespeople for Republican nominee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and independents David Hatley and Lauren Pinkston told Knox News they would not allow Strada to keep his job if they're elected Nov. 3.
“Tennesseans should be able to expect basic competence, accountability, and safety from the agencies entrusted with upholding public safety, but under Commissioner Frank Strada, the Tennessee Department of Correction has become a national embarrassment defined by cruelty and incompetence," Green said in a statement.
"We have seen a pattern of unacceptable errors on Strada’s watch: two botched execution attempts here in Tennessee, including this week's horrific incident, and another in May of this year."
Green said the failed executions of Pike and Tony Carruthers in May were predicable and that executions had serious problems when Strada was deputy director of the Arizona Department of Corrections before moving to Tennessee.
The governor appoints state department heads, and they can be replaced at any time.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections declined to comment.
Tennessee governor candidates promise execution changes
All four candidates said Tennessee's execution system is broken.
Blackburn called for the electric chair to be the primary method of executions: "While there should be a thorough review of what happened and why the process failed, the answer is simple: bring back the electric chair and deliver justice for these victims swiftly."
Green, who is Shelby County's chief public defender, said the execution failed because Tennessee's attorney general "rushed this process, even after the execution of Tony Carruthers failed just four months ago."
"As governor, I would put a moratorium on all future executions. If we say we are pro-life, that means we must be anti-death penalty."
Hatley said Tennessee's execution system needs independent oversight.
"It’s a systemic failure, and it rests with the political leadership that oversees the system," Hatley said in a statement. "Government that can’t carry out its most serious duty competently and honestly has lost the right to keep doing it without answering for itself. Whatever you believe about the death penalty, no Tennessean should accept a state that keeps getting this wrong and keeps promising it won’t happen again."
Pinkston said she has advocated for a full review of the system.
“The sanctity of human life should not be political, but we know that mechanisms of justice usually are," Pinkston said. "After two failed executions at the hands of our state government this year, we are forced to reckon with the responsibility of ensuring that justice is a right protected for every single person living under our state constitution, including those living inside a prison.”
How did Christa Pike's execution go wrong?
On the day of her execution, Pike faced hours of legal delays, which came to an end after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stay of execution just before 6 p.m. Roughly an hour and a half later, media witnesses were called into the execution room to see Pike die.
After the pentobarbital was administered, witnesses said they could hear Pike breathing and snoring.
About an hour after it started, media witnesses were escorted out of the room. An ambulance arrived for Pike as witnesses held a press conference to describe what they saw.
Her attorney said the next day they were toldPike is in critical condition.
Gov. Bill Lee halts future executions
Gov. Bill Lee quickly stopped future executions and called for a review. "There will be a stay of hers and all executions under my watch through the end of the year going forward," Lee told to reporters Oct. 1.
Lee declined to speak about implementing other execution methods in the future.
“I can't speak to what others think ought to happen,” he said. “What I think should happen, while I'm the governor, is that we should determine the steps forward. We should find out what happened and make those make those changes necessary to do what the people of this state want done.”
USA TODAY Network-Tennessee contributed to this report.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Governor candidates won't rehire corrections commissioner after botched execution
