Oklahoma had planned to execute John Hanson on December 15, 2002, but the Biden administration blocked the transfer from federal custody to the state. Now it’s back into a busy year for execution.
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.
The Oklahoma death row inmate whose execution was blocked by President Joe Biden’s administration is scheduled to die Thursday just to get a green light under President Donald Trump.
John Hanson, 61, is scheduled to be executed by a fatal injection for killing 77-year-old Mary Agnes Bowles on August 3, 1999, after he and another man carjacked her from the mall.
“I can’t change the past,” Hanson said at a recent generous board hearing in search of mercy. “I’ll do that if possible.”
Hanson’s execution comes the same week that he won his stay from the judge, but only is it taken away by the High Court. If the execution goes on schedule, it will be the third of four runs this week alone in the US on the 23rd this year.
Here’s what you need to know about the execution, including why Hanson’s fate changed after Trump took office for the second time.
When is it done?
Hanson is scheduled to be executed at Oklahoma State Prison in McAlester at 10am on Thursday, June 12th. This year marks the second execution in Oklahoma.
Oklahoman – Nolan Clay, a reporter for part of the USA Today Network, is set to be one of the witnesses to the execution.
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 and then carjacked the bowl to lure them. According to court records, they took her 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 was caught up in a situation that I couldn’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.”
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 does President Donald Trump have to do with this execution?
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, Oklahoma Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond asked the U.S. Department of Justice to move Hanson to the state. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy ordered the Federal Prisons Bureau to move Hanson from Louisiana and arrived in Oklahoma in March.
“The wait for justice has been long and frustrating for Mary Bowles’ family and friends,” Drummond said in a news release shortly after Hanson’s transfer. “The Biden administration inexplicably protected this vicious killer from the execution chamber, but President Trump and Attorney General Bondi are grateful that they recognize the importance of the killer returning to Oklahoma to serve justice.”
John Hanson won his stay from the judge this week
Hanson’s execution was questionable after an Oklahoma judge granted him a stay Monday. The stay comes from the argument that it is biased to deny one of three members of the Oklahoma pardon and parole committee to denial him. (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, the Oklahoma Criminal Appeal Court overturned it and continued the execution.
Hanson’s lawyer Emma Rawls said in a statement that the Court of Appeal’s ruling “leaves an imminent risk that Hanson will be executed without constitutional safeguards that are entitled under the law.”
“People facing executions don’t need to sue mercy in front of decision makers who have a direct connection to their prosecution,” Rawls said. “We are pursuing all available paths to ensure that Hanson receives a fair process before this irreversible punishment occurs.”
Contributions: Nolan Clay, Oklahoman
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter at USA Today. Follow her on x at @amandaleusat.
