oklahoma death row | My Crime Library

David Ware Oklahoma Death Row

David Ware was sentenced to death by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of a police officer. According to court documents David Ware was pulled over during a traffic stop and would open fire on two officers killing one and injuring the second. David Ware would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death.

David Ware 2022 Information

Gender: Male

Race: White

Height: 5 ft 10 in

Weight: 169 lbs

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Green

Alias: David Ware

OK DOC#: 537656

Birth Date: 8/12/1987

Current Facility: OKLAHOMA STATE PENITENTIARY, MCALE

Reception Date: 5/16/2022

David Ware More News

The man sentenced to death for killing a Tulsa police sergeant and shooting another officer was transferred to the state penitentiary in McAlester.

Last week, a judge sentenced David Ware to death for killing Sgt. Craig Johnson during a traffic stop during the summer of 2020.

Ware received an additional sentence of life in prison for shooting Johnson’s partner, Officer Aurash Zarkeshan, multiple times. He also faces a combined 56 years in prison and more than $30,000 in fines on three other convictions.

https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-david-ware-death-sentence-state-prison/40034034

David Ware Other News

A man convicted of killing a Tulsa police officer and injuring another during a 2020 traffic stop has been sentenced to death.

David Ware was convicted of first-degree murder in the deadly shooting of Tulsa police Sgt. Craig Johnson.

Ware also was sentenced to life in prison for shooting with intent to kill in the shooting of Officer Aurash Zarkeshan, who was critically injured. Zarkeshan has since recovered.

“We are very satisfied,” Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said. “I’ve never had a case where we’ve gone to a death penalty where the judge has not followed the verdict of the jury. It’s going to be a long process.”

Ware also faces a combined 56 years in prison and more than $30,000 in fines on three other convictions.

https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-david-ware-tulsa-police-officer-killed-sentencing/39990604

David Ware More News

Jurors recommended a death sentence Wednesday for a man convicted of fatally shooting a Tulsa police officer.

The Tulsa County jury recommended death for David Anthony Ware after almost three hours of deliberation. That was after convicting him of murder for the June 2020 fatal shooting of Sgt. Craig Johnson during a traffic stop.

Ware was also convicted of shooting with intent to kill Officer Aurash Zarkeshan. The jury already had recommended a life prison sentence for the wounding of Zarkeshan during the stop.

Defense attorney Kevin Adams asked the jury for mercy for Ware.

“This is an ugly … awful case,” Adams said.

“David Ware believed he was acting in self-defense when he shot Sgt. Johnson,” Adams said. “They were kicking him.”

Prosecutor Steve Kunzweiler said Ware made the choice to shoot.

“He knew exactly what he was doing, he was shooting at police officers,” Kunzweiler said.

Earlier Wednesday, Judge William LaFortune dismissed two jurors and replaced them with the two alternates. LaFortune said the man and the woman both told him they could not continue but did not specify their reasons.

“They cannot fairly deliberate with their fellow jurors,” LaFortune said. “The court is beyond suspecting they might not be impartial, way beyond.”

https://www.koco.com/article/david-ware-sentenced-to-death-for-murder-of-tulsa-police-sergeant/39843381

George Ochoa Oklahoma Execution

George Ochoa was executed by the State of Oklahoma for a double murder committed during a robbery. According to court documents George Ochoa and Osvaldo Torres would force their way into a home and would shoot and kill the two homeowners, 38 year old Francisco Morales and his 35 year old wife, Maria Yanez. Both George Ochoa and Osvaldo Torres would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Osvaldo Torres was granted clemency and was resentenced to life without parole. George Ochoa would be executed by lethal injection on December 4, 2012

George Ochoa More News

An Oklahoma death row inmate was executed Tuesday for the 1993 shooting deaths of an Oklahoma City couple.

George Ochoa, 38, was given an injection of lethal drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester less than a month after the state Pardon and Parole Board rejected Ochoa’s request that it recommend Gov. Mary Fallin reduce his death sentence to life in prison.

Ochoa is one of two men convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Francisco Morales, 38, and Maria Yanez, 35. Investigators say Morales was shot 12 times and Yanez 11 times in their bedroom on July 12, 1993. The couple’s three children were inside the house at the time of the shootings.

Ochoa claimed he had been shocked and suffered injuries during his incarceration, but prosecutors said his claims of hallucinations and harm were likely an attempt to feign mental incompetence. Courts prohibit the execution of people who do not understand why they are being punished.

Officials said earlier psychological evaluations showed no evidence of delusions or hallucinations, and that claims about such didn’t start until he was charged.

Ochoa lost a late attempt at having his execution postponed when the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied his request for a stay. A federal appeals court on Monday rejected arguments that Ochoa was mentally unfit to be executed and a challenge to the state’s procedure for determining sanity.

Prosecutors said there was little evidence to suggest a motive for the killing, but no doubt that Ochoa and his co-defendant, Osbaldo Torres, 37, were responsible. Ochoa and Torres were stopped by police near the crime scene and were described by police as “sweating and nervous,” court records show.

Torres, a Mexican citizen, was also convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the shootings, but his sentence was reduced by then-Gov. Brad Henry in 2004. Henry imposed a sentence of life without parole after Mexican government officials raised concerns that Torres was not given a chance to speak with the Mexican consulate after being accused, as required by international conventions

https://www.foxnews.com/us/oklahoma-executes-george-ochoa-for-the-1993-shooting-deaths-of-couple-while-children-at-home

Gary Allen Oklahoma Execution

Gary Allen was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of his fiancee. According to court documents Gary Allen would shoot to death his fiancee following a breakup. When Gary Allen was being taken into custody he was in a struggle and attempted to shoot the officer, however the officer moved and Gary Allen shot himself in the eye. Gary Allen was convicted and sentenced to death. Gary Allen would be executed by lethal injection on November 6 2012

Gary Allen More News

An Oklahoma man who was put to death Tuesday evening despite claims that he was insane spent his final moments rambling about the presidential election and appeared startled when a prison official announced the start of the execution.

Garry Thomas Allen, 56, was executed for the 1986 killing of his fiancée, 24-year-old Lawanna Gail Titsworth, outside an Oklahoma City day-care center. His attorneys had argued that Allen should not be put to death because he could not understand the judgment against him.

Allen appeared confused moments after prison officials lifted a curtain separating the death chamber from witnesses. Slurring his words, Allen spoke for two minutes in an address that mentioned Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. His execution was held at 6pm Tuesday, one hour before polls closed in Oklahoma.

“Obama won two out of three counties,” Allen said. “It’s going to be a very close race.”

At 6:02pm, a prison official announced that the execution was about to begin.

“What? Huh?” Allen said.

When the drugs began to flow, Allen grunted several times and wiggled his feet. He was pronounced dead at 6:10pm.

Titsworth had moved out of the home she shared with Allen and their two sons four days before her death. Allen confronted Titsworth and shot her twice in the chest. She ran with a center employee toward the building, but Allen pushed the worker away, shoved Titsworth down some steps and shot her twice more in the back, according to court records.

Titsworth’s sister-in-law, Susan Titsworth, issued a statement after the execution, on behalf of the family.

“Our beloved Gail, daughter, sister and mother of two young boys, was taken from our family tragically and senselessly due to domestic violence,” the statement said. “For over 25 years, we have waited for justice to be served and for this sentence to be carried out. We are thankful to close the book on this chapter today but we will never stop grieving the loss of Gail.”

A police officer responding to a 911 call tussled with Allen before shooting him in the face, according to court documents. Allen was hospitalized for about two months with injuries to his face, left eye and brain. He entered a blind guilty plea to first-degree murder, meaning he had not reached a plea deal with prosecutors and did not know what the sentence would be. A judge sentenced him to die.

Allen’s attorneys argued he was not competent enough to enter the plea. They also contended he was mentally impaired when he killed Titsworth, that he had been self-medicating for a mental illness and that his mental condition became worse on death row. The US constitution forbids the execution of inmates who are insane or mentally incompetent.

A judge halted Allen’s original execution, on 19 May 2005, after a psychological examination at the prison indicated that Allen had mental problems. Three years later, a jury rejected Allen’s claim that he should not be put to death. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board had voted in April 2005 to recommend that Allen’s death sentence be commuted to life without parole. That clemency recommendation was not acted on until this year, when Republican governor Mary Fallin denied it.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/07/oklahoma-executes-garry-thomas-allen-insanity

Michael Hooper Oklahoma Execution

Michael Hooper was executed by the State of Oklahoma for a triple murder. According to court documents Michael Hooper would go to his ex girlfriends home and kill her and her two children. Michael Hooper would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Michael Hooper was executed by lethal injection on August 14, 2012

Michael Hooper More News

An Oklahoma death row inmate who tried to delay his execution by challenging the state’s lethal injection method was executed Tuesday evening just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to step in.

Michael Hooper, convicted for the December 1993 shooting deaths of his former girlfriend and her two young children, received a lethal dose of drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Hooper was sentenced to death for killing 23-year-old Cynthia Lynn Jarman and her two children, 5-year-old Tonya and 3-year-old Timmy. Prosecutors said the three were with Hooper in a pickup truck in a mowed field when he placed a 9mm pistol under Cynthia Jarman’s chin and shot her, then shot the children to prevent them from being witnesses.

Each of the victims was shot twice in the head, and their bodies were buried in a shallow grave in a field northwest of Oklahoma City.

In an effort to at least stall his execution, Hooper had sued the state last month claiming Okahoma’s three-drug lethal injection protocol was unconstitutional. The lawsuit sought to force the state to have an extra dose of pentobarbital, a sedative, on hand during his execution.

Pentobarbital is the first drug administered and is used to render a condemned inmate unconscious. It’s followed by vecuronium bromide, which stops the inmate’s breathing, then potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Hooper’s attorney had argued that if the sedative were ineffective, the remaining drugs could cause great pain in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit also noted that other states have adopted a one-drug process using a fast-acting barbiturate that supporters say causes no pain.

But the claims were rejected by a federal judge, then upheld by a federal appeals court. And the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Hooper’s request without elaboration earlier Tuesday.

Hooper was the fourth death-row inmate executed in Oklahoma this year.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-hooper-okla-man-executed-for-killing-ex-girlfriend-and-kids/

Michael Bascum Selsor Oklahoma Execution

Michael Bascum Selsor was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of a store clerk during a robbery. According to court documents Michael Bascum Selsor and his accomplice would rob a series of stores and in the process Selsor would shoot and kill Clayton Chandler. Michael Bascum Selsor would be sentenced to death and would be executed by lethal injection on May 1 2012

Michael Bascum Selsor More News

An Oklahoma man convicted of murdering a Tulsa convenience store manager almost 37 years ago was executed by lethal injection Tuesday.
Michael Bascum Selsor, 57, was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m. Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
Selsor’s execution ends more than 3 decades of legal proceedings in which Selsor was twice convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to die for the Sept. 15, 1975, shooting death of Clayton Chandler.
“My son, my sister, I love you till I see you again next time,” Selsor said. “I’ll be waiting at the gates of heaven for you. I hope the rest of you make it there as well.”

He didn’t address Chandler’s relatives, some of whom were watching him.

He breathed heavily a couple of times, and then stopped. The clanging did, too. He was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m.

The 55-year-old Chandler was shot 8 times during an armed robbery in which the thieves got away with a little more than $500. Michael Bascum Selsor, and Richard Dodson, were arrested a week after Chandler’s death in Santa Barbara, Calif., where their car with Oklahoma tags had been spotted.
Selsor was originally convicted and sentenced to death following a 1976 trial, in which Dodson was a co-defendant. Later that year, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Oklahoma’s mandatory death penalty statute. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals modified Selsor’s sentence to life in prison without parole.
Michael Bascum Selsor, initiated a new round of appeals challenging his conviction and in April 1996, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Selsor’s murder conviction, as well as two related convictions.
In 1998, Selsor was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death following a retrial. The same jury recommended Selsor serve a life term as an accessory to Dodson’s shooting of Chandler’s co-worker, Ina Louise Morris, who survived multiple gunshot wounds. The jury also imposed a 20-year term for armed robbery.
On April 16, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 against commuting Selsor’s death penalty to life in prison without parole.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his request for a stay of execution Friday. Defense attorneys had argued that executing Michael Bascum Selsor after he has been in prison for almost 2 generations lacked any deterrent value and would “amount to cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of his constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment.
Dodson, now 71, was convicted of robbery and shooting with intent to kill and is serving a prison sentence of 50 to 199 years. Dodson is imprisoned in the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville and has a parole hearing scheduled for November 2013, according to Department of Corrections records.
Selsor becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Oklahoma and the 99th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Only Texas (482) and Virginia (109) have executed more inmates since the death penalty was re-legalized in the USA on July 2, 1976.
Selsor becomes the 18th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1295th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/2012/05/02/soil-tests-show-47-homes/8831904007/