On Thursday morning, the state of Oklahoma conducted the execution of death row inmate Phillip Hancock, a man convicted of the double murder of Robert Jett Jr. and James Lynch in 2001.
Hancock was executed at 11:29 a.m., but not before his legal team asked for a continuance at 9:10 a.m. with legal counsel from the Oklahoma governor’s office. The execution was given the approval to commence an hour later at 10:10 a.m.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declined the recommendation for clemency made by the Oklahoma Pardon and Patrol Board on Nov. 8. The governor’s office made no official statement on the decision.
Hancock is now the fourth Oklahoma inmate to be executed in 2023, and is also the 11th inmate to be executed since the punishment was reinstated in 2021. Oklahoma has executed more inmates per capita than any other state since the reinstatement of the punishment in 1976.
