Oklahoma Executes Phillip Hancock After Governor Rejects Clemency Recommendation: ​“Phil’s Execution Is Simply Not Justice,” says Oklahoma Legislator

Oklahoma exe­cut­ed Phillip Hancock (pic­tured) on November 30, 2023, fol­low­ing Governor Kevin Stitt’s rejec­tion of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board’s rec­om­men­da­tion that his sen­tence be f com­mut­ed to life with­out parole. The governor’s inde­ci­sion left Mr. Hancock wait­ing anx­ious­ly right up to the time of his sched­uled exe­cu­tion when the governor’s office told the prison war­den to pro­ceed. Mr. Hancock is the 123^rd per­son exe­cut­ed in Oklahoma since the rein­state­ment of the death penal­ty in 1976. His exe­cu­tion is also the fourth exe­cu­tion in Oklahoma this year and the final exe­cu­tion of 2023.

Mr. Hancock’s attor­neys did not seek any last-minute stays from the United States Supreme Court but released a state­ment fol­low­ing his exe­cu­tion. ​“We are pro­found­ly sad that Oklahoma exe­cut­ed Phil for pro­tect­ing him­self from a vio­lent attack. This was a clear case of self-defense and the Governor and the state ignored a wealth of evi­dence show­ing that Phil was fight­ing for his life. He fought to stay out of a cage to defend his life only to be caged and trag­i­cal­ly killed by the state,” said attor­ney Shawn Nolan. Representative Kevin McDugle also released a state­ment fol­low­ing Mr. Hancock’s exe­cu­tion. ​“Phillip Hancock should nev­er have been sen­tenced to death for defend­ing him­self against a vio­lent, unpro­voked attack. Any of us would have fought to stay out of that ter­ri­fy­ing cage… Yet Phil was sen­tenced to death for this act of self-defense, and today, Oklahoma exe­cut­ed him for it. Phil’s exe­cu­tion is sim­ply not jus­tice,” said Rep. McDugle. 

On November 8, 2023, the Oklahoma Pardons and Parole Board vot­ed 3 – 2 to rec­om­mend clemen­cy for Mr. Hancock after hear­ing evi­dence that sup­port­ed his claim of self-defense. At his clemen­cy hear­ing, Mr. Hancock told the board that he ​“was in a life-or-death sit­u­a­tion” and the vic­tims ​“forced [him] to fight for [his] life.” Mr. Hancock took respon­si­bil­i­ty for tak­ing the lives of two indi­vid­u­als but main­tained he did so because of the threat to his own life. Mr. Hancock’s attor­neys argued that he was lured to a biker’s house, where two men attempt­ed to put him in a met­al cage and blud­geon him with a met­al pipe. Mr. Hancock told the Board that amidst a strug­gle, he took con­trol of one of the victim’s firearms and shot both men. ​“I absolute­ly regret with all of my heart that those men died as a result of the night­mare sit­u­a­tion that they them­selves cre­at­ed… I did what I had to do to save my life,” Mr. Hancock told the board.

Several Republican-state leg­is­la­tors sup­port­ed Mr. Hancock at his clemen­cy hear­ing includ­ing Rep. McDugle, who told the Board that ​“if some­one tries to put [him] in a cage, if some­one tries to swing a pipe at [him], somebody’s going to die that day.” Prior to Mr. Hancock’s clemen­cy hear­ing, Representative Justin ​“JJ” Humphrey told the press at a news con­fer­ence that he adamant­ly sup­ports one’s right to defend him­self and that Mr. Hancock’s actions should not have led to cap­i­tal mur­der charges. Rep. Humphrey said that in Oklahoma, ​“we let you loose [for self-defense], we don’t even charge you… We as Oklahomans have a right to defend ourselves.”

In a state­ment from Rep. Humphrey, he echoed his colleague’s frus­tra­tion: ​“I’m very dis­ap­point­ed the gov­er­nor did not fol­low the rec­om­men­da­tion of the Pardon and Parole Board to grant clemen­cy to [Mr. Hancock].” The Pardons and Parole Board has rec­om­mend­ed clemen­cy just three oth­er times since Oklahoma resumed exe­cu­tions in 2021 (Bigler Stouffer, James Coddington, and Julius Jones). Gov. Stitt accept­ed only one of these rec­om­men­da­tions, grant­i­ng clemen­cy to Julius Jones in November 2021, just four hours before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion. He grant­ed Mr. Jones’ com­mu­ta­tion ​“on the con­di­tion that [Mr. Jones] shall nev­er again be eli­gi­ble to apply for, be con­sid­ered for, or receive any addi­tion­al com­mu­ta­tion, par­don, or parole.”