A Republican-backed bill that would pause executions in Oklahoma faces an uncertain future as it awaits a vote on the House floor ahead of a legislative deadline.
House Bill 3138, dubbed the Criminal Justice Reform Act and authored by conservative Rep. Kevin McDugle, would stop all currently scheduled executions. It would also prevent the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals from setting new dates and prevent prosecutors from sentencing people to death while the moratorium is in place.
Additionally, the bill would establish a five-person state task force to study and produce a report on whether recommendations from a 2017 task force have been implemented in Oklahoma. That report found errors that included racial bias and arbitrary sentencing.
A 2017 report from the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology found that prosecutors in Oklahoma are more likely to call for the death penalty when victims of a violent crime are white and less likely to call for the death penalty when victims are Black, Indigenous or another person of color.
“We cannot trust the system, period, and I hate it,” Rep. McDugle said during the hearing. “They [district attorneys] are not willing to stand up and admit mistakes and fix them.”
Backed by people across the political spectrum, including justice reform advocates and a block of staunchly conservative lawmakers, HB 3138 unanimously passed the Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee on February 28.
Bretty Farly of Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, which pushed for the bill, expressed joy at passing the first hurdle.
“What’s more, that this passed unanimously in a super-majority Republican legislature makes it clear that the old taboos surrounding real reform of the death penalty have begun to dissipate,” Farly told the Black Wall Street Times.
Deadline for Oklahoma House Floor vote
Thursday, March 14 marks the deadline for bills created in the House to pass the House floor, according to the Oklahoma House of Representatives website. Yet, Republican House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols, who sets the agenda, did not add the bill for a floor vote on Monday.
With Republican Sen. David Bullard as a co-author, the bill has at least some support in the upper chamber. Meanwhile, only three days of voting opportunities remain for the bill to move closer to becoming law.
“We certainly hope Gov. Stitt, Attorney General Drummond, and members of the Pardon and Parole Board recognize that attitudes in favor of serious reform and true justice have taken hold among voters and now clearly among their elected representatives,” Farly told the BWSTimes.
Death penalty in doubt
The state has garnered national news in recent years for as series of high-profile executions and innocence claims.
Julius Jones narrowly survived his execution date in November 2021 after international protests over his innocence. He remains in prison after Gov. Stitt signed an executive order mandating life without parole.
Richard Glossip, a man who has survived nearly a dozen execution dates, has gained support from the state’s Attorney General, lawmakers from both parties and awaits a hearing from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Public confidence in the death penalty requires the highest standard of reliability, so it is appropriate that the U.S. Supreme Court will review this case,” Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said.
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- Michael Gaines case highlights “arbitrary” life without parole
Poll: Majority of Americans say death penalty sentences unfair
The bill’s potential consideration on the House floor comes after the state placed a moratorium on executions in 2015. Former Governor Mary Fallin paused executions in Oklahoma nearly 10 years ago after a series of botched executions in which prisoners were given the wrong drugs and developed heart attacks during the lethal injection.
Gov. Kevin Stitt reinstated the death penalty in 2021, overseeing the state-sanctioned killings of 11 prisoners since then.
As House lawmakers consider voting on a bill to stop executions ahead of Thursday’s deadline, Oklahoma plans to execute Michael Smith on April 4. The scheduled killing by the government comes after the Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to deny Smith clemency.
Smith has maintained his innocence despite convictions for two murders in 2002.
“I couldn’t imagine any kind of punishment on another man. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Smith told NewsNation.
For the first time since it began tracking sentiments around the death penalty in 2000, a Gallup poll in November 2023 found that a majority of Americans believe the death penalty is applied unfairly.
