Oklahoma Seeks Transfer of Federal Inmate for Execution

OKLAHOMA CITY—The leading prosecutor in Oklahoma has urged the federal Bureau of Prisons to transfer an inmate to state custody, aiming for his execution in connection with the abduction and murder of a 77-year-old woman in 1999.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond submitted a request on January 23 for the transfer of inmate George John Hanson. This action follows an executive order from former President Donald Trump earlier that week, which encourages the U.S. Department of Justice to take more proactive steps in supporting capital punishment.

Hanson, 60, known in Oklahoma court documents as John Fitzgerald Hanson, was sentenced to death in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, after being found guilty of carjacking, kidnapping, and murdering Mary Bowles, 77. He and an accomplice abducted her from a shopping mall in Tulsa. Additionally, Hanson is serving a life sentence for various federal offenses, including being deemed a career criminal, which occurred before his state death sentence.

Drummond’s predecessor, John O’Connor, had previously sought Hanson’s transfer and even filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons in 2022 after the agency denied the request during President Joe Biden’s term. At that time, the Bureau’s regional director, Heriberto Tellez, stated that the transfer did not serve the public interest, a decision that Drummond described as “appalling.”

Ultimately, a federal judge dismissed Oklahoma’s case, stating that the director of the Bureau of Prisons holds broad authority in determining whether to approve or deny a transfer based on their judgment of public interest.

“The earlier administration’s refusal to shift Inmate Hanson to state custody, thus preventing the execution of a long-standing death sentence, represents a clear act of subverting and obstructing the enforcement of a capital sentence,” Drummond expressed in his letter to Danon Colbert, the acting regional director of the Bureau of Prisons.

Randilee Giamusso, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, opted not to comment on Drummond’s appeal.

“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not provide details regarding any inmate’s confinement conditions, including transfers or the rationale behind them,” Giamusso stated in an email to The Associated Press.

Oklahoma has executed 15 inmates since reinstating the death penalty in October 2021 after a period of de facto moratorium caused by lethal injection issues in 2014 and 2015. The next execution is slated for March 20.

By Sean Murphy