59-year-old Phillip Hancock was executed via lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and pronounced dead at 11:29 a.m. on Thursday.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Hancock, but Governor Kevin Stitt rejected the recommendation on the morning of the execution. Stitt has only granted clemency once - in the case of Julius Jones in 2021.
Hancock was found guilty of the 2001 murders of Robert Jett and James Lynch. He claimed he acted in self-defense.
This was the 11th execution in the state since the moratorium on the death penalty ended in 2021.
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