Pending Clemency, Coddington Execution Scheduled For This Week

The State of Oklahoma is slated to begin another round of executions this week, the first of more than two dozen lethal injections scheduled over the next two years.

Death row inmate James Coddington is set for execution at the State Penitentiary Aug. 25 in McAlester. However, there is a pending clemency recommendation before Gov. Kevin Stitt that could take him off death row.

Stitt is expected to decide on the clemency recommendation one way or the other, but if he doesn’t act, Coddington’s execution will move forward. 

Coddington was convicted of murdering his co-worker, 73-year-old Albert Hale of Choctaw, in 1997 because Hale refused to give him money for drugs. 

According to court documents, Codding beat the Navy veteran to death with a hammer. 

Earlier this month, against the wishes of Hale’s family, the state’s pardon and parole board voted 3-to-2 recommending the Governor spare Coddington’s life. Coddington told the board he’s tried to become a better person. 

Stitt did push back the execution of the second man in line to die, Richard Glossip. The governor announced a 60-day stay of execution so a court can review new evidence in the 1997 killing of Barry Van Treese.