Current:Home > StocksOklahoma prepares to execute man for 2001 double slaying despite self-defense claim-LoTradeCoin
Oklahoma prepares to execute man for 2001 double slaying despite self-defense claim
View
Date:2025-01-13 20:09:13
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma is preparing to execute a man for a 2001 double slaying despite his claims that he acted in self-defense.
Phillip Hancock, 59, is scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 this month to recommend Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt spare Hancock’s life, but Stitt had taken no action on the recommendation by early Thursday morning.
Stitt previously commuted the death sentence of Julius Jones in 2021 just hours before Jones was scheduled to receive a lethal injection, but he rejected clemency recommendations for two other death row inmates, Bigler Stouffer and James Coddington, both of whom were later executed.
A spokeswoman for Stitt has said the governor planned to interview prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victims’ families before making a decision.
Hancock has long claimed he shot and killed Robert Jett Jr., 37, and James Lynch, 58, in self-defense after the two men attacked him inside Jett’s home in south Oklahoma City. Hancock’s attorneys claimed at a clemency hearing this month that Jett and Lynch were members of outlaw motorcycle gangs and that Jett lured Hancock, who was unarmed, to Jett’s home. A female witness said Jett ordered Hancock to get inside a large cage before swinging a metal bar at him. After Jett and Lynch attacked him, Hancock managed to take Jett’s pistol from him and shoot them both.
“Please understand the awful situation I found myself in,” Hancock told members of the Pardon and Parole Board via a video feed from the penitentiary. “I have no doubt they would have killed me. They forced me to fight for my life.”
Hancock’s lawyers also have said his trial attorneys have acknowledged they were struggling with substance abuse during the case and failed to present important evidence.
But attorneys for the state argued Hancock gave shifting accounts of what exactly happened and that his testimony didn’t align with the physical evidence.
Assistant Attorney General Joshua Lockett also said that a witness testified that after Hancock shot Jett inside the house, Hancock followed Jett into the backyard. There, the witness said, a wounded Jett said: “I’m going to die.” Hancock responded, “Yes, you are,” before shooting him again, Lockett said.
“Chasing someone down, telling them you are about to kill them and then doing it is not self-defense,” Lockett said.
Jett’s brother, Ryan Jett, was among several family members who testified and urged the panel not to recommend clemency.
“I don’t claim that my brother was an angel by any means, but he didn’t deserve to die in the backyard like a dog,” Ryan Jett said.
Hancock also was convicted of first-degree manslaughter in a separate shooting in 1982 in which he also claimed self-defense. He served less than three years of a four-year sentence in that case.
Hancock is the fourth Oklahoma inmate to be executed this year and the 11th since Oklahoma resumed executions in October 2021 following a nearly six-year hiatus resulting from problems with lethal injections in 2014 and 2015. Oklahoma has executed more inmates per capita than any other state since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty.
The next execution scheduled in Oklahoma is James Ryder on Feb. 1. Ryder was sentenced to death for the 1999 killing of Daisy Hallum, 70, and to life without parole for killing her son, Sam Hallum, 38, in Pittsburg County.
veryGood! (95856)
Related
- How many dog breeds are there? A guide to groups recognized in the US
- Kevin McCarthy won't run for speaker again
- 'A real tight-knit group:' Military unit mourns after 2 soldiers killed in Alaska vehicle crash
- FCC fines Dish Network $150,000 for leaving retired satellite too low in space
- AI could help scale humanitarian responses. But it could also have big downsides
- Iowa starting quarterback Cade McNamara out for rest of 2023 season with ACL injury
- 'Hit Man': Netflix's true-crime comedy nearly went to Brad Pitt
- US adds another option for fall COVID vaccination with updated Novavax shots
- Groups seek a new hearing on a Mississippi mail-in ballot lawsuit
- Lawsuit: False arrest due to misuse of facial recognition technology
Ranking
- Rafael dissolves into a low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico after hitting Cuba as a hurricane
- Serbia releases from custody a Kosovo Serb leader suspected of a role in ambush of Kosovo policemen
- For 100th anniversary, Disney's most famed characters will be commemorated on Vans shoes
- Florida State to add women's lacrosse team after USA TODAY investigation
- Judge weighs the merits of a lawsuit alleging ‘Real Housewives’ creators abused a cast member
- A teenager has been indicted in the shooting deaths of his sister-in-law and 2 young nephews
- Baltimore police: 'Multiple victims' from active shooter situation near Morgan State
- Why Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin Have Kept Their Relationship So Private
Recommendation
Brianna LaPaglia Reacts to Rumors Dave Portnoy Paid Her $10 Million for a Zach Bryan Tell-All
Robot takeover? Agility Robotics to open first-ever factory to mass produce humanoid robots
It's dumb to blame Taylor Swift for Kansas City's struggles against the Jets
Jill Biden urges women to get mammograms or other cancer exams during Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Tua Tagovailoa playing with confidence as Miami Dolphins hope MNF win can spark run
'What in the Flintstones go to Jurassic Park' is this Zillow Gone Wild featured home?
Florida man executed by lethal injection for killing 2 women he met in bars a day apart
Sia reveals she's had an 'amazing face lift' after years of covering her face