NewsLocal News

Actions

Execution dates set for next five Oklahoma death row inmates

Oklahoma House passes bill ending electric chair executions
Posted at 10:43 AM, Jul 01, 2022
and last updated 2022-08-25 12:11:24-04

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.

Oklahoma Execution Glossip
FILE - This undated photo provided by the Oklahoma State Dept. of Corrections shows Benjamin Robert Cole Sr. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday, July 1, 2022, set execution dates for six death row inmates, just hours before an attorney for one planned to ask for a rehearing in his case. Execution dates for James Coddington, Richard Glossip, Benjamin Cole, Richard Fairchild, John Hanson and Scott Eizember were scheduled, starting Aug. 25 with Coddington and followed on Sept. 22 with Glossip (Oklahoma State Dept. of Corrections via AP, File)

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.

Oklahoma Execution Glossip
FILE - This undated photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Richard Fairchild. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday, July 1, 2022, set execution dates for six death row inmates, just hours before an attorney for one planned to ask for a rehearing in his case. Execution dates for James Coddington, Richard Glossip, Benjamin Cole, Richard Fairchild, John Hanson and Scott Eizember were scheduled, starting Aug. 25 with Coddington and followed on Sept. 22 with Glossip (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP File)

Dec. 8

The state was scheduled to execute Richard Glossip on Sept. 22. Gov. Kevin Stitt pushed the execution to Dec. 8.

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.

Richard Glossip
This Feb. 19, 2021, photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows death row inmate Richard Glossip. Oklahoma state Rep. Kevin McDugle a Republican, who is a self-described death-penalty supporter said on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, that a report by a Houston law firm into the conviction of death row inmate Richard Glossip proves Glossip's innocence. McDugle says he believes in the death penalty, but will fight to abolish it in Oklahoma if Glossip is put to death.

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.

Scott Eizember
Scott Eizember is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on Jan. 12, 2023. Photo dated Feb. 5, 2018.

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."


Trending Stories:

Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --