According to media reports, James Coddington, who was sentenced to death for murder, was executed in the US state of Oklahoma on Thursday.
The execution by lethal injection at McAlester Prison came despite a recommendation from the Oklahoma Parole Board that the 50-year-old’s sentence be commuted to life imprisonment.
Crucial to the execution was the decision of the governor, Kevin Stitt, to carry out the death sentence.
In 1997, Coddington killed his colleague Albert Hale with a hammer. Hale didn’t want to lend him money to buy drugs. At the parole committee hearing in early August, Coddington expressed deep regret. He is now a different person and he has found God. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Oklahoma City, Paul Coakley, spoke out in favor of a pardon. The death penalty is immoral.
The victim’s son, Mitch Hale, told local television station KOCO that the family were glad that justice was being done with the execution. His father was a helpful person and he liked Coddington.
