# The head of Tennessee’s Department of Correction will step down this month, days after convicted murderer Christa Pike was left gravely ill from the state’s failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection. The botched execution on Wednesday left Pike unconscious, and hooked to a mechanical ventilator to breathe. The governor had ordered an independent review of the execution attempt at the prison in Nashville. Pike, 50, was convicted three decades ago of first-degree murder for her role in the torture and killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in 1995, when Pike was 18.
Tennessee prison chief resigns after failed execution