'Don't Want To Put Innocent People To Death': Rep. Kevin McDugle On The Death Penalty

Waiting on word from Governor Kevin Stitt - if death row inmate Phillip Hancock’s life - will be spared. 

Oklahoma - has executed 122 people since 1976 - more than any other state in the us

“I fight for it because Oklahomans - we want to do the right thing and the right thing is not putting Phillip Hancock to death, that's for sure,” said Rep. Kevin McDugle.

Republican Representative Kevin McDugle has spent the last few years digging into the state’s death penalty, saying he sees some serious problems.

“For me - I'm 100% pro-death penalty but we've got to get it right. Oklahomans don't want to put innocent people to death. We've got to make sure if we have a process for the death penalty that it's a high bar for the most heinous crimes,” said McDugle.

Mcdugle says Hancock and some others haven't met that bar, “With Phillip Hancock there's all kind of evidence that they lured him into a house, that he defended himself, why in the world is he on death row? He shouldn't be on death row today.”

Mcdugle was also part of a bipartisan review in 2017 - that recommended more than 40 changes to Oklahoma’s capital punishment process.

He says almost none of those recommendations have been implemented, “10 percent of the people that we put on death row have been proven innocent so with those ratios we have surely put to death an innocent person at some time.”

Governor Stitt’s office said in a statement they are reviewing Hancock’s case and clemency recommendation.

If Stitt does not grant clemency, Hancock is scheduled to be executed on November 30th.