Clemency hearings for two Oklahoma death row inmates scheduled this week have been stricken resulting from ongoing authorized challenges in each instances.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board introduced Wednesday the Nov. 9 clemency hearings for John Hanson and Richard Glossip have been stricken to be “rescheduled at a later date.”
Attorneys for the state of Oklahoma filed a federal lawsuit towards the federal Bureau of Prisons final month after the BOP denied a switch request.
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 is at the moment scheduled to be executed Dec. 15.
Records present Hanson is at the moment serving a life sentence plus 107 years in a Louisiana federal jail for a collection of armed robberies he dedicated after the Tulsa County murders.
BOP denied two requests from Oklahoma Attorney General John O’ Connor and Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler as a result of the switch of Hanson, aka George John Hanson, for his December execution in Oklahoma “was not in the public interest.”
State authorities argue within the lawsuit that the federal authorities’s denial to switch Hanson within the title 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.”
Federal attorneys argue the denial of Hanson’s transfer is consistent with BOP’s general practice of effectuating transfers “within the last 90 days of the inmate’s final release from his or her federal sentence.”
“The denial also furthers BOP’s legitimate interest in ensuring that a federal prisoner serve the entirety of his federal prison sentence,” federal attorneys wrote.
Oklahoma law requires clemency hearings for death row inmates to be scheduled 21 calendar days before the scheduled execution date, meaning state officials have until Nov. 24 at the latest to hold a commutation hearing prior to Hanson’s Dec. 15 execution date.
A ruling was not made as this story was being ready for publication.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an government order Nov. 3 staying the execution of death row inmate Richard Glossip.
The order moved Glossip’s scheduled execution to Feb. 16, 2023 “to allow time for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to address pending legal proceedings.”
Glossip was convicted twice of first-degree homicide in a 1997 murder-for-hire plot that accused him of hiring Justin Sneed to kill his boss, motel proprietor Barry Van Treese.
Sneed admitted to killing Van Treese and advised investigators it was underneath Glossip’s course. Sneed obtained a sentence of life imprisonment and is a key witness towards Glossip.
Glossip’s case gained worldwide consideration previous to an advert hoc committee of 34 Oklahoma legislators known as for an impartial assessment in February 2022. State Rep. Kevin McDugle led the committee and stated he would combat to finish Oklahoma’s death penalty if Glossip is executed.
Don Knight, Richard Glossip’s lawyer, stated attorneys filed a petition for post-conviction aid primarily based on two key findings — that Sneed wished to recant his testimony and that the lead district lawyer modified the person’s testimony.
Sneed requested his lawyer in a 2003 letter if recanting his testimony was an choice. Sneed additionally wrote his lawyer’s workplace in 2007 implying he wished to recant his testimony.
Knight stated a memo written in the midst of the trial states a few of Sneed’s testimony wanted to be “cleaned up” as a result of a few of it didn’t align with testimony from the health worker.
The motions filed by Glossip’s protection workforce requesting an evidentiary listening to and post-conviction aid are at the moment pending earlier than the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com.
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