Lawmakers Holding Conference For Clemency Of Death Row Inmate

Two state lawmakers are holding a news conference calling for clemency for Oklahoma death row inmate Phillip Hancock.

Hancock was convicted of killing two men in Oklahoma City in 2001. Hancock is scheduled to be executed on November 30th.

Hancock's attorney says Hancock was defending himself against a violent, unprovoked attack when the two men died. 

“Hancock’s death sentence is a result of prosecutorial overreach during the immediate aftermath of the scandal-plagued era of Oklahoma County DA Bob Macy, as well as inadequate defense counsel who failed to present key evidence to the jury in support of Hancock’s self-defense claim,” the press release about Thursday’s news conference said.

Hancock filed a federal lawsuit requesting the release of physical evidence for DNA testing to support his claim of self-defense. The state and state courts have repeatedly denied his requests, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Hancock's 2004 Conviction & Subsequent Appeals

Hancock was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in 2004. 

Hancock acknowledged that he killed both men, but maintained that he was acting in self-defense.

The defense in the case argued that Hancock was in a fight with the victims when they were shot, according to the Associated Press.

Robert Jett and James Lynch, members of a violent motorcycle gang according to DPIC, were shot by Hancock. Hancock claims that Jett and Lynch attacked him after being lured into Jett’s home, the DPIC says.

In 2015, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Hancock’s sentence. Hancock’s attorneys claimed, according to AP, that the jury had been misled by “unwarranted legal instructions on self-defense.” This refers to the introduction of an unrelated manslaughter charge as evidence from 1982, where Hancock also claimed self-defense, which his attorneys argue deprived him of his constitutional right to due process.

The sentence was upheld in a 2-1 vote, AP said. The one dissenting judge, Carlos Lucero, agreed that the introduction of Hancock’s manslaughter charge was improper, according to AP.

”...The prosecution used both Hancock’s prior self-defense plea and his 1982 manslaughter conviction to tell the jury that Hancock was not to be believed,” Lucero said in his 20-page dissent. “Thus, the prejudice stemming from the admission of Hancock’s prior crime and plea went to the heart of the trial.”