USA: Execution of inmate in Oklahoma for 1997 murder

A 50-year-old American death row inmate was executed yesterday Thursday (25/8) in Oklahomaafter its ruler American state denied his request to commute the sentence to life in prison.

James Coddington, who confessed to murdering a man with a hammer in 1997, died after being administered a lethal injection at Macalister Prison. He was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. (local time) after the prescribed procedure was followed “without problems,” according to local authorities.

Oklahoma, a conservative state in the southern part of the US, has resumed executions in October 2021, after a six-year hiatus due to “problems” with the execution of capital punishment. Case in point was Clayton Lockett, who froze 43 minutes after being injected due to the use of an untested lethal cocktail of substances.

Oklahoma is the US state with the most executions in 2022, three to date, and this was the 6th since executions resumed. According to local media, the next execution in Oklahoma is scheduled for next October.

James Coddington was sentenced to death for murdering his friend Albert Hale (73) with a hammer in 1997. The victim had refused to give him money to buy drugs.

A state commission on pardons and paroles had asked for clemency for James Coddington, but Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt rejected the death row inmate’s request.

A total of ten death row inmates have been executed in the US since the start of the year, most in southern states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC).

Source: News Beast

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