Oklahoma executes Phillip Hancock for a double murder despite state board recommendation for clemenc

July 08, 2024

The state of Oklahoma executed death row inmate Phillip Hancock on Thursday, dismissing years of claims of self defense and a recommendation for clemency by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s decision to proceed with the execution comes as some state Republicans and advocates call for a pause in executions and a review of Oklahoma’s 36 pending death row cases.

Stitt’s decision to deny clemency came in Hancock’s final hours and three weeks after the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency.

“These are always painfully difficult decisions to make and I don’t take this responsibility lightly,” Stitt said in a statement sent to The PBS NewsHour. “The justice that twelve jurors decided on twenty years ago was final today. I reviewed the many facts and materials presented in this case and considered that this was not his first conviction. I trust this brings some closure to all the families involved.”

Hancock, 59, was convicted of two murders in 2001. He and his attorneys argued that he acted in self-defense, saying he was unarmed when he entered an Oklahoma City residence where Robert Jett Jr., 37, and James Lynch, 58, the two murder victims, were present. Hancock has said he was attacked, beaten with a breakover bar, and threatened with a gun before managing to retrieve the weapon and fatally shooting the two men.

Hancock’s defense team argued the trial lacked physical evidence supporting the prosecution’s version of events. A woman present during the incident testified that she could not witness the struggle, further complicating the narrative over what happened.

The state board’s clemency recommendation was the fourth since the state resumed executions in 2021, following a six-year moratorium. Stitt, who previously commuted the sentence of Julius Jones in 2021, did not intervene this time. He denied Hancock’s request for clemency just after 10 a.m. local time, when the execution was scheduled to begin. The execution did not begin until after 11 a.m. Hancock was pronounced dead at 11:29 a.m.

Hancock’s execution is the last scheduled in Oklahoma this year. The state executed four people on death row in 2023.

Hancock’s attorney Shawn Nolan released a statement following the execution, calling it “unlawful.”

“Governor Stitt unconscionably declined to stop the execution, ignoring the unwavering support of many of his allies,” Nolan wrote. “Phil had an exemplary record over the twenty years that he was housed on death row. He was a caring son and devoted brother. The tragedy of this killing is outrageous, and all Oklahomans should be ashamed. May Phil rest in peace.”

Republican state Rep. Kevin McDugle said that Hancock was undeserving of such a punishment. McDugle and fellow Republican state Rep. Justin J.J. Humphrey have been critical of Oklahoma’s execution practices, saying people have been subject to systemwide failures in the state’s justice system, from ineffective defense counsel to prosecutorial overreach.

“Right now I don’t believe in the death penalty in Oklahoma. I don’t,” McDugle told the PBS NewsHour in October. “That’s why we are trying to fix it because if we can’t fix it to where we can execute those who deserve to be executed and quit executing those who don’t deserve to be executed … then we need to get rid of it.”

Protests and vigils were held around Oklahoma on Thursday morning. Dozens gathered outside the gates of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, where Hancock had been imprisoned and where the execution was set to take place. Outside the Oklahoma governor’s mansion, the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty staged a protest calling for a halt to the execution. The day before, a petition with 8,000 signatures was delivered to Stitt’s office with a renewed plea for Hancock’s clemency.

The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty protests Nov. 30 outside the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion over the scheduled execution of Phillip Hancock, who was convicted of two murders in 2001. The coalition and other supporters of Hancock argue he is innocent and was acting in self defense. Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency earlier this month. Photo by Adam Kemp for the PBS NewsHour.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, a national organization mobilizing opposition to executions in Oklahoma and across the United States, held an online vigil in honor of Hancock where the group shared stories about conversations they had with Hancock and played hymns and songs Hancock requested, including “Long Hard Road Out Of Hell” by Marilyn Manson.

“By unnecessarily delaying his decision-making process for weeks, Governor Stitt has cruelly exacerbated the pain of the families of the victims in this case, all of Phil’s advocates and loved ones, the prison workers, and Phil himself. This last minute uncertainty is just one more glaring example of how broken the system is in Oklahoma,” Bonowitz said.

Christina Jefferson, 75, stood outside the governor’s mansion in Oklahoma City waving a sign that read “Don’t Kill For Me” while cars occasionally honked in support as they drove by.

Jefferson said she had been in contact with Hancock after becoming involved with the coalition five years ago. She said she was struck by Hancock’s warm nature and humor.

“He’s a man that once he gets comfortable around you he’ll tell stories and he’ll get you rolling,” Jefferson said, before her eyes filled with tears.

Oklahoma has executed 122 people since 1976, the highest number of executions per capita in the country.

Brett Farley of the Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty said in a statement that “Oklahoma’s practice of capital punishment continues to be riddled with problems, including the inability of the state to prevent the execution of innocent people. Phillip’s case is one more reminder why we must insist state leaders reinstate a moratorium in order to correct these problems.”

Earlier this year, supporters of Hancock, including his attorneys, provided the state board with key declarations. One statement from Hancock’s former girlfriend claimed she arranged with one of the victims to lure Hancock to the house to be “taken care of.” Hancock’s trial attorney, who admitted to a relapse into drug and alcohol addiction during the case, expressed embarrassment about his representation.

The foreperson of the jury that convicted Hancock provided a declaration that the majority of jurors believed Hancock initially acted in self-defense but later became the aggressor.

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