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‘I Can’t Imagine The Anxiety’: Oklahoma Executes Man Claiming Self-Defense Despite Board Recommendation For Clemency

This 29 February, 2000, photo shows the

Photo by PAUL BUCK/Getty Images

Samuel Spencer Contributor
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The State of Oklahoma executed a man Thursday regarding a double homicide in 2001 in which the man said the act was in self-defense, according to multiple reports.

59-year-old Phillip Dean Hancock received a three-drug lethal injection for the murder of James Lynch and Robert Jett Jr, according to The Associated Press (AP). The execution was carried out at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary when Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt reportedly declined to commute his sentence.

“I can’t imagine the anxiety that Phillip Hancock must have felt as Governor Stitt again waited until beyond the last minute to reject clemency,” the Rev. Don Heath, chair of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said in a statement, per The AP. (RELATED: Inmate’s Lawyers Accuse State Of Using Him As ‘Test Subject’ For ‘Experimental’ New Execution Method)

Hancock’s lawyers requested there be DNA testing, claiming “such testing could establish that Plaintiff was acting in self-defense when he shot the decedents.” However, court documents revealed the state and court denied the request, according to CBS News.

Even while strapped to the gurney where he would receive his lethal injections, Hancock reportedly persisted his actions were out of self-defense. He also criticized Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office, stating: “They’re vile. They’re virtueless. They’re without honor,” according to CBS News.

Hancock was also reportedly convicted of first-degree manslaughter for a 1982 shooting and served less than three of the four years he was sentenced, CBS News noted.

Hancock’s execution is the 11th since Oklahoma resumed executions in October 2021, according to CBS News.