James Coddington was fatally injected at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and died Thursday morning. The 50-year-old was convicted and sentenced to death for beating 73-year-old Albert Hale with a hammer 25 years ago. Prosecutors say Coddington, then 24, became enraged when Hale refused to give him money to buy cocaine. During a clemency hearing this month before the state Parole and Parole Board, an emotional Coddington apologized to Mr. Hale’s family and said he was a different man today. “I’m clean, I know God, I’m not a vicious killer,” Coddington told the board. “If this ends today with my death sentence, fine.” But Mitch Hale, Albert Hale’s son, urged the parole board not to recommend clemency and said this week he was relieved the decision to let the execution go ahead. “Our family can put it behind us after 25 years,” Hale, 64, said. “No one is ever happy when someone dies, but [Coddington] he chose that path…he knew the consequences, he rolled the dice and lost.” Coddington’s barrister Emma Rolls told the panel that Coddington suffered from years of alcohol and drug abuse which began as an infant when his father put beer and whiskey in his bottles. The panel voted 3-2 to recommend clemency, although Hale’s family had urged against it. But Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, rejected the parole board’s recommendation.
