Richard Glossip, 60, was set once again to be executed by the State of Oklahoma. He had already experienced six stays of execution from September 16, 2015, to February 16, 2023. His seventh execution date was set for May 18, 2023.

The State of Oklahoma has paused its executions until May 2023. This is hopeful news as it indicates that the state is not only looking over its method of execution but also allowing more time for appeals to be filed and reviewed. Members of the state legislature who still support the death penalty have expressed concern over the possibility of executing innocent persons. This is a step forward.

The State of Oklahoma has changed its execution schedule for 2022-2024. The change follows the January 2023 appointment of a new state attorney general and the appointments of two new members on the State Pardon and Parole Board. The original plan was to execute 25 of the state’s 43 prisoners on death row during that time. During 2022, three of the planned five executions were carried out.

Scott James Eizember (1961-January 12, 2023)

John Fitzgerald Hanson (March 22, 1972…)

Mercifully, there was no execution this month in Oklahoma.

John Hanson was to be executed December 15 for the murder of two people in 1999. He is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Louisiana. The State of Oklahoma asked the federal government to release him, but the request was denied until Hanson has served his full sentence. This in effect means his execution warrant will expire. The state is suing for his return.

Richard Stephen Fairchild  (November 17, 1959 – November 17, 2022)

Benjamin Robert Cole, Sr.            

None of us want to have a dreaded appointment delayed time and again. Think, then, of the great anxiety caused when a prisoner must repeatedly anticipate his death. Then consider these stays of execution for Richard Glossip:

James Allen Coddington (March 22, 1972  - August 25, 2022)

“James Coddington is dead.”

So many injustices exist in our world that it challenges us to notice all of them. Some get overlooked or forgotten. Not so the dignity-of-life issue that has been raised by the State of Oklahoma and is getting national attention. Following a seven-year moratorium on the death penalty, the state, with the August 25 execution of James Coddintgon, has begun its intent to execute 25 of its 43 prisoners on death row between August 25, 2022 and December 24, 2024. Why? Because the state is “catching up” with executions delayed by the moratorium resulting from botched lethal injections administered in 2015.