In Oklahoma City, a judge has issued a temporary halt on the execution of a man previously expedited to death row by the Trump administration. John Fitzgerald Hanson, 61, was scheduled to face execution this Thursday for the murder of a woman in Tulsa in 1999.
Hanson’s legal team contended that he did not receive a just clemency hearing in the previous month from the state’s Pardon and Parole Board, which consists of five members. They argue that member Sean Malloy was partial due to his association with the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office during Hanson’s prosecution.
However, Malloy insists he was not involved in Hanson’s case at that time and was not acquainted with it until the clemency hearing occurred. He was one of the three members who voted against granting a clemency recommendation with a narrow 3-2 decision.
Hanson’s attorney, Emma Rolls, expressed in a petition the importance of due process and fair application of Oklahoma’s constitutional clemency procedures for those facing execution such as her client.
On the other hand, Attorney General Gentner Drummond contends that the district judge lacks the jurisdiction to delay the execution and has appealed to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn the stay.
Hanson received a death sentence after being found guilty of carjacking, kidnapping, and murdering Mary Bowles in Tulsa County. Authorities recounted that he and an accomplice abducted Bowles from a local shopping mall.
Earlier, federal officials moved Hanson to Oklahoma custody in March, executing an order from President Trump aimed at ramping up support for the death penalty. Before his state death sentence, Hanson was serving a life term in a federal Louisiana prison for various federal offenses, identified as a career criminal.
Both Attorney General Drummond and his predecessor, John O’Connor, pursued Hanson’s transfer during President Biden’s administration; however, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons initially rejected the request, reasoning that it did not serve the public interest.