MCALESTER, Okla. — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set execution dates for dozens of death row inmates, including five to happen by February 2022.
A judge ruled in June that the state could continue lethal injections after a lawsuit by inmates challenged the execution method.
Oct. 20
Death row inmate Benjamin Cole is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 20. Cole is sentenced to death in the 2002 of killing his 9-month-old daughter in Rogers County.
Nov. 17
The state is scheduled to execute Richard Fairchild on Nov. 17. Fairchild is sentenced to death for the beating of his girlfriend's son, 3-year-old Adam Broomhall, to death in Del City 1993.
Dec. 8
The state was scheduled to execute Richard Glossip on Sept. 22. Gov. Kevin Stitt pushed the execution to Dec. 8.
MORE >>> Gov. Kevin Stitt issues stay of execution for death row inmate Richard Glossip
Glossip is sentenced to die for ordering the beating death of Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese in 1997. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted to robbing and beating Van Treese with a baseball bat, but said he did so only after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000.
The state had Glossip hours from being executed in September 2015 when prison officials realized they had received the wrong lethal drug, eventually leading to a moratorium on executions that didn't end until 2021.
An Oklahoma lawmaker recently called Glossip's conviction into question citing a report by a Houston law firm that he says proves his innocence.
Dec. 15
John Hanson is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 15. Hanson is sentenced to die for the 1999 killings of Mary Agnes Bowles and Jerald Thurman. Prosecutors say Hanson and another man carjacked Bowles at Tulsa Promenade and took her to a dirt site where Thurman was working before the man he was with killed Thurman and Hanson shot Bowles several times.
Jan. 12, 2023
The state will execute its first prisoner of 2023 on Jan. 12 when it kills Scott Eizember. Eizember is sentenced to death for killing elderly couple A.J. and Patsy Cantrell at the beginning of a violent crime spree and manhunt that lasted multiple weeks.
Attorney General John O'Connor released this statement about the scheduled executions:
"Today, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set execution dates in six cases involving the murders of eight individuals: Albert Hale, Barry Van Treese, Brianna Cole, Adam Broomhall, Mary Bowles, Jerald Thurman, and A.J. and Patsy Cantrell. "The earliest of these murders was committed in 1993, and the most recent was in 2003. "The family members of these loved ones have waited decades for justice. They are courageous and inspiring in their continued expressions of love for the ones they lost. My office stands beside them as they take this next step in the journey that the murderers forced upon them. "Oklahomans overwhelmingly voted in 2016 to preserve the death penalty as a consequence for the most heinous murders. I’m certain that justice and safety for all of us drove that vote."
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