Firearms have been the leading cause of domestic violence homicides in Oklahoma since 1998. The state’s anti-red flag law bans any efforts to seize weapons by court order.
Phillip Dean Hancock, 59, was put to death for the 2001 murders of two men in Oklahoma City. He is the 11th person executed since the state resumed use of the death penalty in 2021.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board has recommended clemency in four death penalty cases in three years. The governor has only granted mercy once.
One prison lost more staff after a state takeover from a private prison company due to low pay and problems with workers passing background checks.
Glossip has spent 26 years on death row, has had two trials, nine execution dates and three last meals. An interim study at the Oklahoma Capitol will examine whether the state has done enough to ensure innocent people aren’t executed.
Sanchez, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006 for killing Juli Busken, a 21-year-old dance student at the University of Oklahoma. Busken had been abducted, raped and shot in the back of the head.
Oklahoma has been responsible for nearly a quarter of all executions in the country since resuming the death penalty in 2021. Only Texas, which put 10 people to death in that same period, has executed more.
There have been nine suicides at the Oklahoma County jail in three years. Another six people with documented mental health issues died of other causes. One woman’s death has helped jumpstart a diversion program.
