Oklahoma top court sets executions dates for seven condemned men over the next six months
In this post last month I asked, “Might Oklahoma really try to move forward with seven executions over the next six months?” That post was prompted by the Oklahoma Attorney General’s request to the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals to set execution dates for seven death row inmates, including in the high-profile case of Julius Jones. Now, as reported in this local article, all these execution date have been set:
High-profile death row inmate Julius Jones has been scheduled for execution Nov. 18. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday set execution dates for Jones and six other inmates convicted of murder. The court set the date for Jones even though the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended Gov. Kevin Stitt commute his death sentence.
The board voted 3-1 Sept. 13 to recommend his sentence be commuted to life in prison. If the governor agrees, Jones immediately would be eligible for parole. Stitt could choose to commute the sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He also could deny commutation.
Oklahoma’s new attorney general, John O’Connor, asked the court to schedule the execution dates. O’Connor made the request in August after a federal judge ruled six of the inmates could no longer participate in a legal challenge to the state’s execution procedures…. Still in the legal challenge are 26 other death row imates. Their lawsuit in Oklahoma City federal court focuses mainly on the use of a sedative, midazolam, in lethal injections. Trial is set for Feb. 28.
Jones, 41, is facing execution for the 1999 fatal shooting of an Edmond insurance executive during a carjacking. Jurors chose the death penalty as punishment at a 2002 trial. The victim, Paul Howell, was gunned down in his parents’ driveway in Edmond after a back-to-school shopping trip with his daughters. Stolen was his 1997 Suburban. Jones claims that he is innocent, that the real killer framed him and that his trial was unfair….
Oklahoma has not carried out an execution since January 2015. Scheduled for execution first is John Marion Grant, 60, an armed robber who was sentenced to death for fatally stabbing a prison kitchen worker in 1998. His execution was set for Oct. 28.
Next is Jones. Third is Bigler Jobe Stouffer, 78, who was sentenced to death for the 1985 fatal shooting of a Putnam City elementary school teacher. His execution was set for Dec. 9….
Fourth is Wade Greely Lay, 60, who was sentenced to death for killing a security guard during a botched bank robbery in 2004. His execution was set for Jan. 6.
Fifth is Donald A. Grant, 45, who was sentenced to death for killing two workers at the LaQuinta Inn in Del City during a 2001 robbery. His execution was set for Jan. 27.
Sixth is Gilbert Ray Postelle, 35, who was convicted of murdering four people on Memorial Day 2005 outside a trailer in Del City. He was sentenced to death for two of the murders and to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the other two. His execution was set for Feb. 17.
Seventh is James Allen Coddington, 49, who was sentenced to death for killing a Choctaw man in 1997 during a cocaine binge. His execution was set for March 10.
O’Connor initally had asked for earlier dates. He revised his request when the appeals court did not act. He told the court he was doing so so that inmates will get a required notice and to allow the parole board time to conduct clemency hearings. In the order, the four judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals found that the setting of execution dates is now appropriate and required by law. They acknowledged in a footnote that they are aware of Jones’ commutation request. They wrote “this Court’s duty to set a date certain is dictated” by law because there is currently no stay in effect.
Given that there have only been four state executions nationwide since the start of the pandemic more than 18 months ago, I would be quite surprised if Oklahoma actually completes so many executions in the next few months. But, as we recently saw with the federal system in 2020, sometimes an attorney general very motivated to restart the machinery of death can get death chambers humming pretty quickly.
Prior related post: