The time of death was 10:16 am. CT, Department of Corrections Director Scott Crowe told reporters. “Today is not a good day, it’s not a bad day, it’s just a new day for our family,” Mitchell Hale, the victim’s son, told reporters after attending the execution. “We can finally move on. It’s not going to cure anything, but it closes this chapter.”
Coddington’s execution was the first of more than a dozen state officials plan to carry out between now and December 2024, at a rate of about one man a month. Opponents have been critical of the plan: There are outstanding questions about the innocence or mental capacity of some inmates to be executed, their lawyers said, and critics pointed to the state’s recent history of botched lethal injections. Those problems — dating back to the 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett, who writhed and moaned on a gurney for 43 minutes before suffering a heart attack — prompted officials to suspend executions during investigations and reviews of the state’s death penalty . The executions resumed last October, with inmate John Grant convulsing and vomiting in the garage, according to witnesses. But there were “absolutely no problems” with Coddington’s execution, Crow said. “Today’s execution went according to protocol, with absolutely no problems.” Coddington’s chest rose during the execution, but it was not “dramatic” or to the point where his body was lifted from the garage, said Sean Murphy of the Associated Press, one of five media witnesses to the execution. The inmate’s breathing appeared to be labored, he said, adding that the execution was “pretty par for the course” given the drugs used. Coddington in his final words thanked his family, friends and lawyers, according to media witnesses, and also addressed Stitt, saying: “I don’t blame you and I forgive you.” Coddington expressed no remorse for killing Hale, Mitchell Hale said, saying the omission proved the inmate’s previous expressions of remorse were not “genuine.” “He never apologized, he never mentioned my dad, he never mentioned my family,” said the murdered man’s son. “Well, there was no real remorse.” Coddington’s supporters tried to save his life, including during a hearing this month before the Oklahoma Board of Zoning and Parole, which voted 3-2 to recommend Coddington receive clemency, sending the decision to Stitt . Coddington had asked to have his sentence commuted to life in prison, where his defense attorneys — including the former director of the state Department of Corrections and a former speaker of the state House of Representatives — said he had finally overcome his addiction and could serve as a good influence on other prisoners. “I don’t think it would be in the best interest of the state of Oklahoma to execute Mr. Coddington,” Justin Jones, a former director of prisons, told Tulsa Public Radio this month. State Attorney General John O’Connor and Hale’s family did not support clemency. And while Hale’s son told the parole board during the hearing that he had forgiven Coddington, “my forgiveness does not absolve him of the consequences of his actions,” Mitchell Hale said, according to CNN affiliate KOCO. Stitt ultimately denied clemency after reviewing both sides’ arguments, his office said Wednesday in a statement. Coddington and his lawyers were “deeply disappointed,” lawyer Emma Rawls said in a statement. “James is loved by a lot of people,” Rawls told CNN, “and he’s touched a lot of hearts. He’s a good man.”

24 more executions are scheduled over the next 2 years

Amid lingering concerns about inmates’ innocence or mental capacity and past botched lethal injections, Oklahoma is on track to continue its steady string of executions, with more than half of its 43 inmates convicted and sentenced to death there due to killing. The spree is similar to other recent spate of executions by Arkansas and the US government under the Trump administration, but largely out of step with America’s continued decline in the death penalty. The next person to be executed in Oklahoma would be Richard Glossip, who maintains he is innocent of killing his boss in 1997. He was scheduled to be executed on Sept. 22, but Stitt last week issued a 60-day stay to allow an appeal court to consider a new hearing. It is Glossip’s fourth stay or suspension, according to his lawyers. His execution is now scheduled for December 8. This means that the execution of prisoner Benjamin Cole Sr. the next one is on October 20. Cole was sentenced to death for murder in 2002, but his lawyers argue he is unfit for execution due to “profound mental illness and brain damage”. Medical experts have diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia, court filings say, and have requested a competency hearing before his execution date. The families of victims killed by those awaiting execution “have been waiting decades for justice,” the attorney general said in a statement setting the execution dates, calling the victims’ loved ones “courageous and inspiring.” O’Connor also pointed to Oklahoma’s vote in favor of the death penalty in 2016, adding, “I’m sure justice and safety for all of us drove that vote.”