Oklahoma County killer James D. Pavatt is set to die Nov. 12 by lethal injection.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday set the execution date.
Inmates are put to death at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
“This case should not be scheduled for execution given the material questions yet to be answered,” said Hunter S. Labovitz, assistant federal public defender.
Pavatt, who denies guilt, was sentenced to die for the 2001 shooting death of Robert D. Andrew, 39, an advertising executive, as part of what prosecutors allege was a murder-for-hire plot.
Pavatt, 72, and Andrew’s wife, Brenda Andrew, 62, were having an affair, according to news reports.
The Andrews had two children and were going through a divorce.
Andrew was shot in the family home’s garage in Oklahoma City when he went to pick up the couple’s children, prosecutors said at trial.
Prosecutors believed a $800,000 life insurance policy was part of the motive.
Brenda Andrew was tried separately and also received the death penalty. She is appealing.
Brenda Andrew is being held at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center, a women’s prison in McLoud.
After Andrew’s death, Pavatt and Brenda Andrew fled to Mexico with the children, but were later apprehended, according to news reports.
A clemency hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Oct. 14.
The execution is expected to be the fourth in Oklahoma this year.
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence.
