The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted Wednesday against recommending clemency for death row inmate John Hanson. The 3-2 decision moves Hanson closer to his scheduled execution date of June 12.
Hanson was convicted for the 1999 murder of Mary Bowles, who was kidnapped outside a mall in Tulsa. Court documents state Hanson and an accomplice killed Bowles in a dirt pit near Owasso. Shortly before, his accomplice killed Jerald Thurman, who witnessed their presence.
Hanson's fate now rests with Governor Kevin Stitt. Without intervention, the execution will take place at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
Hanson's legal team presented arguments for clemency, citing unresolved legal questions and an extreme disparity in sentencing between Hanson and his co-defendant, Victor Miller. Miller received a sentence of life without parole after his death sentence was overturned on appeal, while Hanson's remains.
Attorneys for Hanson also presented evidence of his autism diagnosis, arguing it made him susceptible to manipulation by Miller. They stated three jurors have expressed concerns about their death verdict after learning facts not presented at trial. Callie Heller, an attorney for Hanson, said the case presented disparities the clemency process should address.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued against clemency, stating that Hanson needed to "atone for the pain and suffering he has wrought." Victims' family members also spoke before the board, opposing a commutation of Hanson's sentence.
Prior to being moved to Oklahoma's death row this year, Hanson had been serving a separate life sentence for two decades in a Louisiana federal prison for a bank robbery. He was transferred to Oklahoma following a President Donald Trumpexecutive order restoring((Source)) federal executions. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the transfer after Drummond asked the U.S. Department of Justice for Hanson to face execution in the state where his crimes occurred.
The transfer reversed a previous decision by the Biden administration which had blocked Hanson's move from federal custody, stating it was not in the public interest. The Biden administration has taken steps to commute the sentences of federal death row inmates.
Miller, Hanson's co-defendant, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after his death sentence was overturned on appeal. Hanson's defense highlighted testimony suggesting Miller may have been the shooter in Bowles' death.
"Now is the time for him to atone for the pain and suffering he has wrought," Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a news release. "Justice will be delivered when the death penalty is rightly served on June 12."
