Oklahoma had planned to execute John Hanson on December 15, 2022, but the Biden administration blocked the transfer from federal custody to the state. Oklahoma set it up again after Trump’s election.
The US expands how it runs
Most death row inmates faced one method of execution in modern history. Now there are many alternative ways to die.
Oklahoma executed the man two and a half years after the Biden administration blocked the original date with his death.
John Hanson, 61, was executed by a fatal injection on the morning of Thursday June 12th. He and another man were found guilty of murdering 77-year-old Mary Agnes Bowles after he and cared her out of the mall on August 3, 1999.
Hanson was declared dead at 10:11am, a spokesperson for the amendment told USA Today.
Hanson’s death was made possible by the Trump administration. The Trump administration approved a transfer from federal custody in Louisiana to Oklahoma in February, for the sole purpose of his execution. The Biden administration blocked the transfer in 2022, in line with the former president’s opposition to the death penalty.
Hanson’s execution also came the same week that he won his stay from the judge, only to be overturned by the High Court. Hanson is now the 23rd inmate to be executed in the United States this year, and is one of four men who will be executed this week alone.
Hanson’s lawyer, Curry Heller, criticized the execution as “a act of meaningless cruelty,” saying Hanson had autism and that he was more likely to be manipulated by the “dominant co-defendants.”
“Justice was ultimately served,” Oklahoma Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement.
“This incident shows that no matter how long Oklahoma takes, it will hold murderers accountable for the crime,” he said.
Here’s what you need to know about the execution, including why Hanson’s fate changed after Trump took office for the second time.
Why was John Hanson convicted?
On August 31, 1999, Mary Bowles was at the Promenade Mall in Tulsa, and became one of her favorite frequent walks for exercise.
When she returned to her car, John Hanson and Victor Miller pulled their guns, then carjacked Bowles to lure them in, and wanted to use the retired banker’s car for the robbery. According to court records, the man took Bowles to an isolated area near a dirt hole.
Gerald Thurman, the owner of the pit, was there and saw the car circling before it approached him. Miller shot Thurman four times, including one, as Bowles sat helplessly behind the car, court records say.
Miller drove a little further apart and Bowles asked the man. “Is there anyone who loves you or any of you?” court records show that Hanson urged her to punch her. Shortly afterwards, Miller stopped the car, and Hanson kicked out Bowles and shot her at least six times, court records say.
Thurman’s nephew, who was making a call just before the attack, discovers that his injured uncle is still alive shortly after the shooting. Thurman passed away two weeks later.
Bowles’s severely “substantially disassembled” body was found on September 7, 1999 more than a week later, court records say.
Hanson and Miller continued what prosecutors called “armed ferony binge,” robbing the video store and bank at muzzle for five days, and Miller’s wife turned the man following the argument. They were captured two days after Bowles’ body was found.
Miller was sentenced to life in prison, while Hanson was sentenced to death. According to court records, Miller later boasted that he was the one who shot the bowl. That all goes beyond the “disquiet miscarriage of justice,” says Hanson’s lawyer.
Hanson explained his actions during a recent generous hearing, explaining that Miller is promoting violence.
“I’m not an evil person… I’ve been caught up in a situation that I can’t control,” he said. “Things were happening so fast. The spurt of that moment, my lack of determinism and fear made me wrong and both lost my lives.”
He added: “We can’t change the past. We’ll do so if possible.”
Who was Mary Bowles? “kind person”
Mary Bowles’ funeral turnout showed just how much love the enthusiastic volunteers are in the community.
Hundreds of family, friends and fellow volunteers packed up funerals to share memories of the 77-year-old, according to archived stories from the world of Tulsa.
Among the many volunteer organizations at Bowles was a local hospital where she recorded more than 11,000 hours in the newborn unit for a critical newborn, reported in 1999.
“She was a very kind person,” hospital director Beverly Farrell told Oklahoman. “I can’t imagine her offering resistance to anyone. She would have given up on the car. I don’t know who could be violent towards her.”
Bowles was not married and had no children, but she treated her nephew and nie as if it were hers, but friends and family told the media at the time.
“She had to be the greatest aunt in the world,” Farrell said.
Bowles was also passionate about music and travel. According to Oklahoman, she majored in music education at Oklahoma A&M and performed at Tulsa Phil Harmony for three seasons. Bowles once rode a hot balloon over Lake Tahoe to enjoy cross-country skiing in the winter, Nie’s Linda Bearrendo told the world of Tulsa.
Farrell said the Bowles murder was devastating for the hospital and the community.
What did President Donald Trump have to do with this implementation?
Hanson was imprisoned in Louisiana and was sentenced to life in prison for bank robberies and other federal crimes when Oklahoma scheduled the execution of Bowles’ murder.
Hanson’s execution was set for December 15, 2022, but the Biden administration blocked a transfer from Louisiana’s federal custody to Oklahoma. The move coincides with Biden’s opposition to the death penalty, coming several years before Biden handed down the death penalty sentences except three federal death row inmates just before he took office in December.
In Trump’s first month this year, he signed an executive order to restore federal execution, calling the death penalty “an essential tool for stopping and punishing those who commit the most heinous crimes.”
Three days later, State Attorney General Drummond asked the U.S. Department of Justice to move Hanson to his state. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy ordered the Federal Prisons Bureau to move Hanson from Louisiana and arrived in Oklahoma in March.
“Today, Mary Bowles and Gerald Thurman justice has finally been served,” Drummond said in a statement Thursday. “After more than 25 years of waiting, the murderer who brutally took these two precious lives paid the ultimate price for his heinous crime.”
John Hanson won his stay from the judge this week
Hanson’s execution is suspect after an Oklahoma judge granted him a stay on Monday, June 9th. The stay came from Hanson’s argument that one of three members of the Oklahoma pardon and parole committee who refused to deny him was biased. (The board of directors voted 3-2.)
Hanson said when Hanson replied in 2006, board member Sean Malloy was a Tulsa County prosecutor and should not have been allowed to consider his generous petition. Malloy said he never worked in Hanson’s case.
Oklahoma County District Judge Richard Ogden ordered an enforcement stay awaiting Hanson’s case against the board of directors over Malloy’s participation. Drummond immediately appealed the sentence, and on Wednesday, June 11th, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals overturned it and continued the execution.
Hanson’s lawyer, Emma Rawls, condemned the decision.
“People facing executions don’t need to sue mercy in front of decision makers who have a direct connection to their prosecution,” she said.
Contributions: Nolan Clay, Oklahoman
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter at USA Today. Follow her on x at @amandaleusat.
