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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

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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/

Timothy Stemple Oklahoma Execution

Timothy Stemple was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of his wife. According to court documents Timothy Stemple would report his wife missing, the next day her body would be found badly beaten. Turns out Timothy Stemple took out a large insurance policy on her and proceeded to beat her to death with a baseball bat. Timothy Stemple would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Timothy Stemple would be executed by lethal injection on March 15, 2012.

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An Oklahoma man convicted of killing his wife with help from a relative of his mistress to collect insurance money was put to death by injection Thursday.

Timothy Shaun Stemple shook his head no when asked if he had any last words, as members of his family and his wife’s sat separately from each other watching the condemned man through glass.

The 46-year-old Stemple gasped for about 20 seconds, his eyes opened and he groaned. He then laid still with closed eyes and his face turned pale. He was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m.

His family had asked the governor to stay the execution so that medical testimony disputing his accomplice’s account of the 1996 attack on Trisha Stemple could be heard in court. Stemple’s mother, his 21-year-old daughter and his sisters held each other by their hands and arms as he was being put to death. One of his sisters held his crying daughter’s face close to hers.

Afterward, Trisha Stemple’s sister, Deborah Ruddick-Bird, said the day was not about Timothy Stemple. She said it was “about justice, finality and closure for my gorgeous sister, Trisha, and my family.”

“Today we put a period at the end of the chapter that held us captive for far too long,” Ruddick-Bird told reporters. “Today we breathe again. Today we move forward and move on.”

Trisha Stemple, 30, was beaten with a plastic-covered baseball bat and run over by a pickup truck Oct. 24, 1996, along a Tulsa highway. Her husband maintained his innocence throughout the trial and appeals process. And at a clemency hearing last month, he declined to address Pardon and Parole Board members.

The board denied his plea for clemency.

https://www.oklahoman.com/article/feed/360187/oklahoma-executes-man-for-wifes-1996-slaying

Gary Welch Oklahoma Execution

Gary Welch was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of a man over drugs. According to court documents Gary Welch and the victim Robert Dean Hardcastle, 35, were involved in an argument over drugs when Gary beat and slashed Robert with a beer bottle causing his death.. Gary maintain the killing was in self defense however the judge felt differently and sentenced him to death. Gary Welch would be executed by lethal injection on January 6, 2013.

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The state of Oklahoma executed Gary Roland Welch on Thursday evening for his role in a 1994 slaying in Ottawa County.

As soon as the lethal injection was administered at 6:05 p.m., Welch began to chant repeatedly, “Valhalla. Odin. Slay the beast!” until he lost consciousness. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m.

Welch, 49, offered no apology or show of remorse for the slaying of Robert Dean Hardcastle, 35, in a dispute over drugs in Miami, Okla.

He gave a short speech before the injection in which he thanked the inmates of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary’s H unit for clanging on their cell doors before his execution – a tradition the inmates view as a sign of respect.

“I want to acknowledge that my brothers are here for me, to send me off on my journey,” he said. “They are here on my behalf. They’ve already given me my little send-off. So let’s get it on, because that’s what we’re here for.”

He then began his chant, presumed to be a reference to Norse mythology.

Welch maintained that he killed Hardcastle in self-defense, and he appeared unrepentant and indignant at a clemency hearing in December.

“I was right on 8/25/94, and I’m right now,” Welch said at the hearing. “I’m not coming up here today crying, begging and sniveling for my life. I’m only here to speak my mind.”

A few weeks after that hearing, Welch attempted suicide in his cell with a contraband razor blade. He recovered and was deemed competent for Thursday’s execution.

Prosecutors said Welch assaulted Hardcastle in the victim’s duplex and then chased him outside when he fled. Welch and co-conspirator Claudie Conover continued assaulting Hardcastle in a ditch at the end of the street, where multiple witnesses said they saw Welch punch and stab Hardcastle before slashing him with a broken beer bottle.

Conover originally was sentenced to death, as well, but his sentence was reduced to life in prison without parole possible. He died of natural causes in 2001 at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy.

Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Robert Whitaker argued that forensic evidence and court testimony in Welch’s case contradicted his claims of self-defense.

Two hours before Welch killed Hardcastle, he had pulled a knife on someone else in the Miami area, demanding drugs.

He killed Hardcastle to send a message regarding a shipment of drugs that had been sent to the wrong address and turned over to police, prosecutors argued.

“Gary Welch had a 15-year history of violent crimes that included multiple assaults on women and police officers, burglary, stabbings and carrying concealed weapons before his conviction for murder,” Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a written statement.

“The punishment of death as chosen by a jury of Welch’s peers is reserved for the most heinous crimes. My thoughts are with Robert Hardcastle’s family and what they have endured for the past 17 years.”

Hardcastle had twin sons who were 2 years old when their father was killed.

Several of Hardcastle’s family members, along with law enforcement officials from Ottawa County, witnessed Welch’s execution, the first of the year in the state as well as the country.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/oklahoma-executes-gary-roland-welch-for-1994-ottawa-county-slaying/article_41466004-6218-53c0-98dd-fb0e1b6c476a.html

Johnny Black Oklahoma Execution

Johnny Black was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of a man and the attempted murder of another. According to court documents Johnny Black and four other men would fatally beat Bill Pogue and injured his son-in-law Richard Lewis in 1998. Many believe the murder was a case of mistaken identity. Johnny Black would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. Johnny Black would be executed by lethal injection on December 17 2013

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Oklahoma on Tuesday executed a 48-year-old man convicted of the 1998 stabbing death of a horse trainer from Ringling.https://9295d6fb9eaecdadaefc512f23b0e17a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Johnny Dale Black was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was the second inmate executed by the state in the past two weeks and the sixth put to death in Oklahoma this year.

Black was convicted of first-degree murder for fatally stabbing Bill Pogue, 54, during a roadside attack near the southern Oklahoma town that left Pogue with 11 stab wounds, broken ribs and punctured lungs. Pogue’s son-in-law, Rick Lewis, was also attacked. Lewis suffered more than a dozen wounds but later recovered.

At a hearing before the state Pardon and Parole Board last month, Black begged forgiveness for his actions. But he insisted that he was merely trying to defend his brother, Jimmy Black, from Pogue. The brothers had approached Pogue and Lewis after mistaking their car for that of someone else they had been searching for.

“I deserve to be punished for what I did, but not for defending my family,” Johnny Black told the board in November.

About 15 minutes before the execution, fellow death row inmates began banging the doors of their cells in a tribute to the condemned man.

Witnesses to the execution included Black’s mother, his attorney and a spiritual adviser. Four members of the victim’s family also attended.

Before the lethal drugs were administered, Black, who was lying on a gurney with needles attached to both arms, made eye contact with his mother, and both shook their heads affirmatively.

“This isn’t accomplishing anything,” Black said. “It’s just another death, another family destroyed.” Black did not apologize to the victim’s family or acknowledge the crime he was convicted of.

Looking at his mother, Johnny Black said, “I love everybody. I love you. You can count on that, Momma.”

As the lethal drugs were administered, Black took several deep breaths as his mother wept.

The victim’s family did not make a statement after the execution. But Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said Black was sentenced to death by a jury of his peers “for the murder of an innocent grandfather and upstanding member of the community.”

Pogue’s relatives and friends had petitioned the board last month to carry out the execution instead of commuting Black’s death sentence to life in prison without parole.

“What will bring justice in this tragic case? How can atonement be made for this hideous murder?” wrote Pogue’s widow, Lonnetta. “No mercy was shown to Bill on that fateful night. He got no second chances at life.

“I ask you, board members, to let justice be done,” she wrote.

Lewis related the mental anguish and survivor’s guilt he’s experienced since 1998.

“Tell me how, as the only surviving victim, that I can explain the feeling of being the one that survived,” Lewis said. “Tell me how to explain to my son – who was 18 days old when this happened – how his daddy couldn’t save his granddad.”

Pogue’s son, Charles Pogue, told the board how the family has battled through bouts of depression and “extreme anger” since Pogue was killed.

“Dad got to be a grandfather for 18 days before his life was taken,” Charles Pogue said. “Unfortunately, my two daughters never got to meet their pops.

“I also haven’t had the heart to tell them what happened that evening. It’s hard to figure out how to tell a 12 and 5-year-old about how evil a person can be,” he said.

Randy Bauman, Black’s attorney, declined last week to comment on the case.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/johnny-dale-black-killer-convicted-in-1998-stabbing-death-executed-in-oklahoma/

Ronald Lott Oklahoma Execution

Ronald Lott was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the sexual assault and murders of two elderly women. According to court documents Ronald Lott would sexually assault and murder the first woman in 1986 and the second woman in 1987. DNA would tie Ronald Lott to both murders. Ronald Lott would be convicted and sentenced to death. Ronald Lott would be executed by lethal injection on December 10, 2013

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Oklahoma on Tuesday executed a man convicted of raping and murdering two elderly women in the 1980s, while Missouri appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to be allowed to proceed with an execution hours later.

Ronald Clinton Lott, 53, was pronounced dead at 6:06 p.m. (7:06 EST) after a lethal injection at a state prison in Oklahoma, state Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said.

Lott was the 37th person executed in the United States this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Lott was convicted of raping and killing Anna Laura Fowler, 83, in 1986 and Zelma Cutler, 90, in 1987 in their Oklahoma City homes after DNA evidence linked him to the crimes.

He made no final statement, Massie said.

“Ronald Lott was sentenced to death by a jury of his peers for the heinous and unconscionable acts he committed against Anna and Zelma in their homes,” Attorney General Scott Pruitt said in a statement.

According to Oklahoma criminal appeals court records, evidence presented at trial suggested Lott attacked the women and sat on their chests, breaking their ribs. Both had numerous bruises and were asphyxiated.

Another man, Robert Lee Miller Jr., had originally confessed to the rape and murder of the two women and served 11 years, seven on death row, before DNA evidence led authorities to Lott. Miller was released in 1998.

Lott was the fifth man executed in Oklahoma in 2013. The state is also scheduled to execute Johnny Dale Black, 48, on December 17 for his conviction in the 1998 stabbing death of Ringling, Oklahoma, horse trainer Bill Pogue.

In Missouri, state officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday night to lift a federal appeals court stay and allow them to proceed with the execution of Allen Nicklasson, which is scheduled for early Wednesday.

Nicklasson, 41, is arguing that his lawyers were ineffective. An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Monday stayed his execution and the full Eighth Circuit on Tuesday denied a Missouri request to rehear the decision.

Nicklasson was found guilty of murder for the August 1994 shooting of motorist Richard Drummond, who stopped on a highway to help Nicklasson and two others whose car had broken down.

The three had stolen guns and ammunition in a home burglary before their vehicle broke down. When Drummond stopped to offer them a ride, the men abducted him, took him to a wooded area and shot him in the head, according to court records.

One of the men, Dennis Skillicorn, was executed in 2009. The third person, Tim DeGraffenreid, who was 17 at the time, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a reduced sentence.

Nicklasson and Skillicorn were also convicted of killing an Arizona couple while on the run after killing Drummond.

Nicklasson had been scheduled to die October 23, but Missouri Governor Jay Nixon halted the execution due to broad criticism over the state’s planned use of the drug propofol, widely used as an anesthetic in medical procedures.

The case is one of many caught up in a national debate over what drugs can or should be used for executions, as capital punishment opponents pressure pharmaceutical companies to cut off supplies of drugs for executions.

Missouri in November used pentobarbital, a short-acting barbiturate, mixed by a compounding pharmacy to execute serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-executes-man-convicted-killing-two-women-missouri-execution-stayed-flna2d11724181