Oklahoma carries out final execution of 2023
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.
Governor Stitt weighs self-defense claims of man on death row
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board has recommended clemency in four death penalty cases in three years. The governor has only granted mercy once.
Another officer is stabbed as Oklahoma prisons struggle with staffing
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.
One Oklahoma lawmaker says Richard Glossip’s claim of innocence should be enough to halt executions
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.
Oklahoma executes Anthony Sanchez, the 10th death sentence carried out in 23 months
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 is set to execute 10th man in less than two years
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.
People with mental illness are more likely to die in jail. A new Oklahoma County program puts them in treatment instead
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.
Jury awards $33 million to the family of a man who died in an Oklahoma jail as staff mocked him
Jail staff admitted in trial testimony that they knew Terral Ellis, a 26-year old father, was in pain but did nothing to help him even as he screamed for help.