An Oklahoma death row inmate was executed Thursday morning, hours after Gov. Kevin Stitt declined to commute his sentence as recommended by the State’s Pardon and Parole Board.
James Coddington, 50, received the lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was declared officially dead at 10:16 a.m.
Coddington was 24 years old when he beat his coworker Albert Hale, 73, to death for refusing to give him money to buy drugs.
Earlier this month, Coddington appeared emotional before the Pardon and Parole Board apologizing to Hale’s family and asking for clemency.
“I’m clean, I know God, I’m not…I’m not a vicious murderer. If this ends today with my death sentence, OK,” he reportedly said.
Coddington’s attorney Emma Rolls argued that her client’s addiction to drugs and alcohol started when he was just an infant and his dad fed him whiskey with bottles.
But the victim’s son, Mitch Hale, asked Coddington be denied clemency and expressed his relief upon learning that Gov. Stitt opposed the board’s recommendation.
“Our family can put this behind us after 25 years,” the 64-year-old man said. “No one is ever happy that someone’s dying, but he chose this path…he knew what the consequences are, he rolled the dice and lost.”
