Oklahoma executes James Coddington

McALESTER − Oklahoma on Thursday carried out the first of 25 executions scheduled over the next two years.

Convicted murderer James Coddington was declared dead at 10:16 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. He was 50.

His expressions of deep remorse for his actions 25 years ago brought him widespread support in the end. His backers said he had transformed himself in prison.

The execution by lethal injection came a day after Gov. Kevin Stitt rejected a clemency recommendation that would have changed his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Stitt, a Republican, denied clemency during an election year that has seen him attacked as being soft on crime. One dark money group, the Sooner State Leadership Fund, has spent millions of dollars criticizing Stitt, particularly over his commutation of prison convicts.

"In his failure to recognize that each human being is worth more than their worst action, and that executions pile victims upon victims, Gov. Kevin Stitt has denied the Pardon Board's recommendation of clemency. Oklahoma will execute James Coddington tomorrow at 10 am." — Sister Helen Prejean

Coddington admitted he committed murder, said he was remorseful

Coddington was executed for murdering Albert Troy Hale, a friend and co-worker, during a cocaine binge and robbery spree in 1997.

He went to Hale's house in Choctaw to borrow $50 for cocaine after robbing a convenience store, according to his own statements in the case. Hale, 73, turned him down and told him to leave.

Coddington then beat Hale with a claw hammer, took $525, left and robbed five more convenience stores. Hale survived a day, dying at a hospital on March 6, 1997, after being found by a son.

Coddington confessed after he was arrested by police outside his south Oklahoma City apartment two days after the attack.

His attorney, Emma Rolls, called him "the most deeply and sincerely remorseful person I have ever represented." One of his robbery victims said she forgave him after he apologized during a phone call from prison this month.

"I truly believe he is remorseful," Trisha Allen said in an affidavit. "He explained to me that his transformation from anger to peace and compassion took a long time and was a difficult process. He also explained that the more calm he was able to experience, the more opportunity he had to seek God."

Coddington's execution first of 25 scheduled in Oklahoma over the next two years

For his traditional last meal Wednesday, Coddington requested two cheeseburgers, two crunchy fish sandwiches, two large fries and a large cola, the Corrections Department said.

He was the first of 25 inmates scheduled for execution after a federal judge in June rejected their complaints about a sedative used in the lethal injection process.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 on Aug. 3 to recommend clemency after Coddington made an emotional apology to the Hale family.

"The person that he welcomed into his home was not me. It was a shell of me. It was a drug addict that didn't deserve his friendship," Coddington said at the hearing. "And I'm very sorry that I took their dad, their grandpa. I still today would do whatever I have to do to make it right to his family.

"I can't apologize enough for what I did," he also said in tears. "And for someone to say I don't care and that I have no remorse is the only thing that I have to say is not true because I've never forgot Al."

Attorneys for the state contended his statements of remorse were disingenuous or, at best, grossly exaggerated. They contend he likely intended to kill Hale all along to avoid going back to prison.

"The facts on the whole − and the jury's decision to impose death − certainly support a far more sinister plan on Mr. Coddington's part," assistants to Attorney General John O'Connor told the parole board.

Oklahoma's problems with executions spurred anti-death penalty movement

Oklahoma has executed four other inmates in the last year after a long hiatus. Three had been kicked out of the lawsuit over the lethal injection process and one was never in the case.

Coddington had been scheduled for execution last March after he, too, was kicked out of the lawsuit. He was not executed because the judge allowed him back in the case.

He was the 115th inmate put to death by lethal injection since the state first used the procedure on Sept. 10, 1990, according to a Corrections Department fact sheet..

Oklahoma has become a focal point for the anti-death penalty movement because of its history of problems with lethal injections. The execution of John Grant last October was widely described as botched after media witnesses reported the inmate repeatedly convulsed and vomited.

The debate over capital punishment has intensified after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set dates for the 25 executions July 1. "Oklahomans overwhelmingly voted in 2016 to preserve the death penalty as a consequence for the most heinous murders. I’m certain that justice and safety for all of us drove that vote," Attorney General John O'Connor said that day after the schedule was released.

A new group, Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, planned a news conference for Thursday to announce its formation.

Oklahoma City's archbishop, Paul Coakley, spoke out again against the death penalty Wednesday after the governor denied clemency.

"There are other ways to administer just punishment for crimes without resorting to lethal measures that do not align with our state’s pro-life values and only serve to perpetuate the cycle of violence," Coakley said. "Pray for an end to the death penalty."

- Coddington becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma, and the 117th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (575) has carried out more executions in the US since the death penalty was made possible by the July 2 Gregg v Georgia Supreme Court decision.

- Coddington becomes the 10th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1,550th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

- The US executed 11 condemned inmates last year. There are at least 9 more executions currently set for this year in the US, including 1 in Alabama on Sept. 22, 1 in Missouri, 3 in Texas, and 4 more in Oklahoma.

Source: oklahoman.com, Nolan Clay; Rick Halperin August 25, 2022

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