Oklahoma scheduled to execute 11 death row inmates in 2023

Derrick James, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·3 min read
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Jan. 7—Here is a look at 11 executions scheduled this year in Oklahoma:

Scott James Eizember

—He is scheduled for execution Jan. 12 and was scheduled to be the last death row inmate in Phase 1 prior to the rescheduling of Richard Glossip to Feb. 16.

—Eizember, 61, was convicted and sentenced to death plus 150 years for the October 2003 murders of Patsy Cantrell, 70, and her husband, A.J. Cantrell, 76, in their Creek County residence. After the murders, Eizember led law enforcement on a 37-day manhunt that ended in Texas.

Richard Glossip

—Glossip, 59, is scheduled to be put to death on Feb. 16 for his conviction in the 1997 murder of Barry Van Treese. Glossip was convicted twice of first-degree murder in the murder-for-hire plot that accused him of hiring Justin Sneed to kill Van Treese.

—Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt twice issued a stay of Glossip's execution to allow time for the state's appeals court to review filings made by his defense attorneys claiming new evidence was found in the case. OCCA denied motions for new evidentiary hearings in the case.

Jemaine Cannon

—Cannon, 51, is scheduled to be executed Mar. 9.

—Cannon was sentenced to death by a Tulsa County Jury in 1996 for the 1995 stabbing death of his girlfriend, Sharonda White Clark.

Anthony Sanchez

—Sanchez, 44, is scheduled for execution Apr. 6.

—A Cleveland County jury convicted Sanchez for the 1996 murder of Juli Busken in Norman and sentenced him to death.

Phillip Hancock

—Hancock is scheduled to be put to death on May 4 after a jury found Hancock guilty for the April 27, 2001, murders of Robert L. Jett Jr., 37, and James V. Lynch, 58 in Oklahoma City.

—A July 2022 ruling issued by OCCA ordered an evidentiary hearing to be held in Oklahoma County District Court over the possibility of new forensic DNA testing. The motion for new testing was denied with an appeal pending in the case.

James Ryder

—Ryder, 60, is scheduled for execution June 4.

—He was sentenced to death by a Pittsburg County Jury for the 1999 death of Daisy Hallum and to life in prison without parole for the 1999 death of Sam Hallum.

—Ryder's conviction was initially overturned by OCCA following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McGirt before reversing their decision after ruling McGirt was not retroactive to cases filed prior to July 2020.

Michael Smith

—Smith, 40, is scheduled to be executed July 6.

—An Oklahoma County Jury sentenced Smith to death for the 2002 killings of Sarath Pulluru and Janet Moore.

Wade Lay

—Lay, 61, is scheduled for death on Aug. 3 for the 2004 shooting death of Tulsa-area bank security guard Kenneth Anderson.

—A competency trial for Lay is currently scheduled to begin in May after a Pittsburg County Judge ruled following an evidentiary hearing "there is good reason to believe" Lay is not competent to be executed.

Richard Rojem

—Rojem, 65, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 5 after he was convicted for the 1984 kidnapping, rape and murder of 7-year-old Layla Dawn Cummings, his former stepdaughter.

—A Washita County Jury sentenced Rojem to death for the killing of Cummings along with 1,000-year sentences for the kidnapping and rape.

Emmanuel Littlejohn

—Littlejohn, 51, is scheduled for execution Nov. 2.

—An Oklahoma County Jury convicted Littlejohn of first-degree murder for the 1992 death of Kenneth Meers during a robbery of a convenience store in Oklahoma City.

Kevin Underwood

—Underwood, 43, is scheduled for execution Dec. 7 for the 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Bolin in Purcell.

—Underwood admitted to investigators he killed Bolin after inviting her into his apartment to play with his pet rat before hitting her in the head with a cutting board and suffocating her. He told investigators he did the crime after developing "a desire to abduct a person, sexually molest them, eat their flesh, and dispose of their remains."