Convicted murderer executed in US after governor denies clemency

WASHINGTON: A 50-year-old convicted murderer, James Coddington, was executed in Oklahoma on Thursday after the governor rejected a recommendation of clemency from the pardon board of the central US state.

James Coddington was put to death by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in McAlester, prison officials said.

The execution began at 10:02 am and Coddington was pronounced dead 14 minutes later, said Scott Crow, the director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

He said there were “absolutely no issues.”

“The execution today went in accordance with the protocol with no issues at all,” Crow said.

A botched procedure forced Oklahoma to temporarily halt executions in 2015 but they resumed in October of last year.

Coddington was sentenced to death for the 1997 murder of a friend, 73-year-old Albert Hale, who had refused to give him money for drugs.

Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency for Coddington but it was denied on Wednesday by Governor Kevin Stitt.

Coddington was the 10th person executed in the United States this year.