“After a thorough review of the arguments and evidence presented on all sides of the case, Governor Kevin Stitt has denied the Board of Pardons and Paroles’ clemency recommendation for James Allen Coddington,” a brief statement from the governor’s office said. Emma Rolls, one of Coddington’s lawyers, said the prisoner and his legal team were “deeply disappointed” by the governor’s decision, but thanked the parole board for its “careful consideration” of Coddington’s case. His recommendation for leniency “recognized James’ sincere remorse and substantial transformation during his years on death row,” he said. “James is loved by many people,” Rawls said in a statement to CNN, “and has touched the hearts of many. He is a good man.” Coddington, whose execution by lethal injection is scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m. CT, will be the first of more than a dozen inmates to be put to death in a controversial series of executions that Oklahoma officials plan to carry out between now and December 2024 — at a rate of about one man a month. Opponents and experts have criticized the plan, pointing to lingering questions about the possible innocence or mental capacity of some inmates, as well as the state’s recent history of botched lethal injections. But state officials stood firm — as in recent years in other series of executions by Arkansas and the US government under the Trump administration, but largely unrelated to the continued decline in the death penalty in America. “The people of Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly in 2016 to retain the death penalty as a consequence of the most heinous murders,” Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor said in a July 1 statement as the execution dates were set. “I am confident that fairness and safety for all of us drove this vote.” In the weeks since the parole board meeting, calls for clemency for Coddington had grown, with supporters including a former speaker of the House of Representatives, the former director of the state Department of Corrections and even a woman who once robbed him. “James lived his transformation on death row,” says his appeal for clemency submitted to the parole board. “His sobriety, service and compliance with the rules of the society in which he lives are documented. The man the jury convicted and sentenced to death no longer exists.” But Hale’s family did not support clemency — though his son told Coddington’s clemency hearing that he had forgiven the man who killed his father. “I’m here to say I forgive James Coddington,” Mitch Hale said during Coddington’s clemency hearing, according to CNN affiliate KOCO. “But my forgiveness does not absolve him of the consequences of his actions.” O’Connor was “disappointed” by the council’s decision, he said in a statement at the time. “The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole hearing is not designed to take the place of a jury trial. Jurors heard evidence about Coddington’s childhood environment and brain development during the sentencing phase of the trials,” O’ said. Connor. “The jury also concluded that Coddington was a continuing threat to society — both inside and outside prison walls.” “My office will continue to stand by the undisputed facts of this case and with the family of Albert Hale and all Oklahomans,” he added, “in opposing Coddington’s request for relief from the Governor.”
A murder for drug money
Coddington was “on a crack cocaine high” when he killed Hale, whom he met while working at a salvage yard, according to the clemency petition, which calls the victim “one of the few people in (Coddington’s) tortured life who helped and supported him.” Coddington had long struggled with drug addiction, but “evolved into a crack cocaine habit” in early March 1997 and, looking for money, robbed a 7-Eleven, his report says, but it wasn’t enough. That’s when he went to Hale’s house to borrow more money. When Coddington asked, Hale refused. He asked Coddington to leave, encouraging him to get help, the report says. Coddington grabbed a hammer in Hale’s kitchen, hit the man in the head three or four times, stole $520 from Hale’s pocket and left. Hale was discovered by his son, alive but covered in blood, according to court records. He died in hospital about a day later. Coddington was arrested outside his apartment two days later — after robbing five more convenience stores, his clemency appeal says. But Coddington quickly accepted full responsibility for Hale’s murder, according to the petition and his lawyers, “tearfully” admitting to hitting the man with the hammer and leading police to the gun. He would have pleaded guilty, his petition states, but was convinced otherwise by his attorney because the district attorney at the time would not offer a plea deal. Coddington pleaded guilty to the robbery charges, the attorney wrote in a letter attached to the petition ((Exhibit 42)), so Hale’s family would never have to worry that he would walk free if he was ever granted parole. Coddington was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, although the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals later remanded the case. He was again sentenced to death, and his conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal.
A troubled early life
In asking for mercy, Coddington’s lawyers pointed in part to his childhood, arguing that his troubled upbringing, filled with neglect and abuse, led him down a difficult path that culminated in Hale’s murder. Coddington’s mother and father — who had nine children together — “were not equipped to be parents,” his petition states. Both had long criminal records and Coddington’s mother spent almost all of the first eight years of his life – apart from an 18-month break – in prison. Coddington’s childhood was spent between his father and grandmother, who both lived in houses described in the report as “virtually uninhabitable”: his grandmother’s house had no proper plumbing and people used the bathtub as a toilet , while his father’s home was reported to the Department of Human Services multiple times. The home “was not a suitable environment for children due to filth,” a DHS release said. Coddington also suffered abuse, his petition alleges. His father and brothers put alcohol in his bottles and his father beat him, leaving fat on his body and sometimes drawing blood, the report states. The father received welfare but bought alcohol instead of food, she adds, leaving the children to eat from fast food restaurant bins. Coddington’s father abandoned him and his younger brother when he was 7, and DHS took custody of the boys, the report states. Coddington received mental health treatment at a children’s hospital and responded well, the report indicates, but later returned to his mother, whose lifestyle “erased” any progress Coddington had made. She continued to be in and out of jail, and Coddington and his brother were “constantly exposed to her methamphetamine abuse and dealing,” the report states. Eventually, Coddington got into drugs himself and started getting into trouble with the law. But he tried to get help for his drug addiction, the report says, voluntarily entering and successfully completing treatment programs. But his progress would evaporate when he left. “Again, without a strong support system, his sobriety was short-lived,” the report states.
Coddington could serve more time in prison, lawyers say
But in the years since, Coddington has worked hard to rehabilitate, his lawyers say, and “has achieved and maintained sobriety, breaking the cycle of addiction that had plagued his life since early childhood.”
While on death row in Oklahoma, Coddington displayed exemplary behavior, maintained a good relationship with his family and even became a unit orderly, a “coveted position,” his application says, which includes helping with facility operations and assisting inmates and personnel. The job requires Coddington to maintain his good behavior.
Even former Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Justin Jones called Coddington’s behavior “commendable” in the inmate’s plea for clemency. Coddington could be a good influence on other inmates if his life is spared, adding that the inmate has a “commitment to be productive regardless of the situation in front of him,” Jones told Tulsa Public Radio this month.
“It takes inmates like him to really step up and be mentors to younger inmates who will probably get out at some point,” Jones said.
“I don’t think it would be in the best interest of the state of Oklahoma to execute Mr. Coddington,” he said.
Coddington’s transformation was also evident in Trisha Allen, whom he robbed in 1997 while she was working as a convenience store clerk. Allen would not have testified in favor of the death penalty if she had known about Coddington’s childhood, she wrote in an affidavit to the governor shared by Coddington’s attorneys.
Over the years, he has kept up with his case, he wrote, and has tried several times to meet Coddington “and see if he is a different man.”
As the execution date approaches, they finally talk on the phone and Coddington apologizes. Allen forgave him, she wrote, adding that the conversation gave her a “sense of peace” and she believes “God is calling me to help Mr. Coddington receive clemency.”
“I believe in the power of redemption,” he said. “Given the opportunity, Mr. Coddington can help others in prison and live a life of service to others.”
