Oklahoma Executes Inmate for 1999 Tulsa Murders

John Fitzgerald Hanson was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma for the 1999 murders of Mary Bowles and Jerald Thurman, following a transfer from a Louisiana prison to facilitate the execution. Hanson and his accomplice abducted Bowles from a Tulsa mall; Thurman was fatally shot during the crime, and Hanson later killed Bowles. Despite Hanson's expression of remorse and claims of being developmentally disabled and homeless, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board declined clemency, and Attorney General Gentner Drummond emphasized that justice was served after more than 25 years. The execution was expedited under President Donald Trump's administration, reflecting a broader enforcement of capital punishment. The Oklahoma Coalition Against the Death Penalty protested the execution, calling it a waste of taxpayer resources and advocating for abolition, while mourning the loss of life on both sides. Hanson's legal team also contested the fairness of the clemency hearing, citing alleged bias and lack of opportunity to present mitigating evidence.