A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the Oklahoma lawyer normal’s lawsuit in opposition to the federal authorities over the transfer of a death row inmate for a scheduled execution whereas state officers search a keep of execution.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor dismissed a request made by Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor and District 14 District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler for a preliminary injunction into the U.S. Bureau of Prison’s denial to transfer Oklahoma death row inmate John Hanson into state custody.
Both the AG and Kunzweiler made a request to the BOP for Hanson’s transfer to state custody so Hanson’s death sentence may very well be carried out on Dec. 15. The BOP refused to transfer Hanson stating the transfer was “not in the public’s best interest.”
Hanson was convicted and sentenced to death in Tulsa County District Court for the deaths of 77-year-old Mary Bowles and 44-year-old Jerald Thurman and was scheduled to be executed Dec. 15.
Records present Hanson is serving a life sentence plus 107 years in a Louisiana federal jail for a collection of armed robberies he dedicated after the murders.
In its lawsuit, Oklahoma prosecutors argued the BOP violated federal transfer statute which states the federal prisons director can order a prisoner’s transfer to a state detention facility previous to their launch from a federal jail if the request is made by a state government authority, current an authorized copy of the judgement, and “the director find that the transfer would be in the public interest.”
State authorities argued the federal authorities’s denial to transfer Hanson in the identify of public curiosity “would mean that Hanson will never face justice for his murder of Bowles” and “if Hanson is transferred, state and federal justice will both be achieved.”
Attorneys for the BOP argued the courtroom had no jurisdiction to assessment the declare as a result of swimsuit not being filed in the right district and that if the courtroom did so, the statute offers the BOP director “broad discretion over whether to refuse a transfer request based on his determination of the public interest.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas, Wichita Falls Division with Oklahoma attorneys arguing it’s the correct venue for the lawsuit to be filed as a result of being midway between Oklahoma City and Dallas the place the BOP regional workplaces are positioned.
Federal attorneys argue the transfer request ought to have been filed in the Alexandria Division of the Western District of Louisiana as a result of Hanson is incarcerated in the district and his rapid custodian, the warden named in the lawsuit, performs his duties contained in the district.
Judge O’Connor determined in an earlier ruling the transfer request ought to have been filed in the Louisiana courtroom — however said the judge will proceed to make a ruling on whether or not the federal authorities violated federal statute in denying Oklahoma’s transfer request.
In his Tuesday ruling, the judge wrote in his ruling that the state by no means demonstrated how the BOP director violated the statute.
“Rather than demonstrate how the BOP Director has violated a clear statutory command, plaintiffs invite this court to engage in a debate about the public interest when Congress has clearly limited such review,” O’Connor wrote. “The court declines that invitation.”
The AG’s workplace on Monday instructed the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals the workplace was “formally asking” Gov. Kevin Stitt “to grant a stay of execution and set a new execution date.”
OCCA requested the AG’s Office to “show cause why Hanson’s execution date should not be stricken and reset.”
“Obviously, the state cannot and will not execute appellant on Dec. 15, 2022,” the AG’s workplace wrote in their response.
A listening to to transfer the federal case to the Western District of Louisiana is scheduled for Dec. 22.
The AG’s workplace was ordered to inform OCCA of any selections rendered in the federal case.
Contact Derrick James at [email protected]
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