OKLAHOMA CITY, OK.- In a pivotal move in the ongoing capital punishment debate, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the transfer of convicted murderer John Fitzgerald Hanson to Oklahoma for execution, the Oklahoman reported Tuesday.
The newspaper wrote Bondi directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer Hanson, and Bondi stated the Justice Department owes it to the victim, her family and the public to carry out the sentence.
The Oklahoman reports, Hanson, 60, currently serving a life sentence in the U.S. Penitentiary in Pollock, LA, for federal crimes was previously scheduled for execution in Oklahoma in 2022. However, the Biden administration blocked his transfer, citing a federal moratorium on executions and broader opposition to the death penalty, reports the Oklahoman.
The Oklahoman quoted the regional director at the Federal Bureau of Prisons justifying the decision by explaining Hanson’s “transfer to state authorities for state execution is not in the public interest.”
Hanson was convicted for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Agnes Bowles, whom he kidnapped from a Tulsa mall parking lot before fatally shooting her in a ditch near Owasso, writes The Oklahoman.
According to trial testimony, the Oklahoman reported, Hanson and an accomplice targeted Bowles to steal her car for a robbery spree, but the accomplice also shot and killed Jerald Thurman, a dirt pit owner who had witnessed them on his property. The Oklahoman said Hanson later confessed to a friend, stating, “Everything went bad.”
The Oklahoman noted in 2020, President Joe Biden campaigned on a promise “to work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.”
Following Biden’s inauguration, Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions, but Trump appointee Bondi recently reversed this policy, declaring in a memo to employees, “This shameful era ends today” reported the Oklahoman.
According to the Oklahoman, LA Attorney General Gentner Drummond renewed the state’s request for Hanson’s transfer on Jan. 23, following an executive order by President Trump reinforcing the enforcement of capital punishment laws.
The Oklahoman stated Drummond wants the transfer to be completed before Oklahoma’s first execution of 2025, scheduled for March 20. The Oklahoman quotes Drummond who has stated, “The laws that authorize capital punishment must be respected and faithfully implemented.”
The Oklahoman reports Hanson is asking a federal judge in Louisiana to prevent his transfer, with the defense arguing “the federal government enjoys primary jurisdiction over an individual it ‘first arrested and imprisoned.'”
If unsuccessful, states the Oklahoman, Hanson will likely face execution shortly after Oklahoma proceeds with the scheduled execution of confessed killer Wendell Grissom in March.
