Pardon & Parole Board Rejects Death Row Inmate Benjamin Cole's Clemency Request

UPDATE (12:53 p.m., Sept. 27, 2022): The clemency request for death row inmate Benjamin Cole has been rejected by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

Related: Clemency Denied For Rogers County Man Convicted Of Murdering 9-Month-Old Daughter (

Below is the story from Tuesday morning.

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A death row inmate convicted of murdering his baby is set to ask the Oklahoma pardon and parole board to spare his own life Tuesday..

Benjamin Cole’s attorneys claim while he admitted to killing his daughter, he has expressed deep remorse for doing so and is currently not mentally competent to be executed.

Prosecutors claimed in December of 2002, Cole murdered his 9-month-old daughter Brianna Cole by bending her over backward by the legs. A medical examiner's report showed the baby's back was broken and that she bled to death.

The Rogers County District Attorney said Cole had already been convicted of felony child abuse in California where a different child suffered cigarette burns and broken ankles.

Now, attorneys for Cole will argue Tuesday he’s too mentally incompetent to be executed

“Cole suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and brain damage that leave him with no rational understanding of why the State seeks to execute him,” Cole’s attorney Tom Hird said in a statement. “His mental health has deteriorated dramatically over his years in solitary confinement, and he is now so physically compromised that he can barely move. He is not a threat to anyone.”

According to his attorney, Cole is waiting on a Pittsburg County judge to decide whether to order a competency trial.

That decision is expected later this week. Cole is set to be executed on Oct. 20.