Oklahoma executes death row inmate Phillip Hancock, 59, after he enjoyed a final meal of KFC and a root beer despite parole board recommending CLEMENCY over claims shot dead two men in self defense

Oklahoma has executed a death row inmate despite a clemency recommendation from the state’s Pardon and Parole Board over claims he shot and killed two men in self-defense.

Phillip Hancock, 59, was given a three-drug lethal injection Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was pronounced dead at 11:29 a.m.

He requested a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, dark meat only with no sides, as his last meal, which he ate with a root beer he bought himself from the commissary, a prison spokesman said.

Hancock, while strapped to the stretcher in the execution chamber, thanked his legal team and reiterated his claim that the killings were in self-defense. He added that he hoped to be exonerated after his death.

Earlier this month, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend that Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt spare Hancock’s life. But Stitt had taken no action on the recommendation by early Thursday morning.

Hancock has long claimed he shot and killed Robert Jett Jr., 37, and James Lynch, 58, in self-defense after the two men attacked him at Jett’s home in south Oklahoma City.

Before his execution, he criticized Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office, which handled the post-conviction prosecution.

‘They’re mean. They are virtualss. They have no honor,” Hancock said. Drummond, who witnessed the execution, appeared unresponsive.

The Rev. Don Heath, chairman of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said in a statement, “I cannot imagine the fear Phillip Hancock must have felt when Governor Stitt once again waited until the last minute to reject clemency.”

A spokeswoman for Stitt did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the governor’s decision to deny clemency or why it was delayed until after the execution’s scheduled 10 a.m. start time.

Hancock’s attorneys alleged at a clemency hearing this month that Jett and Lynch were members of outlaw motorcycle gangs and that Jett lured Hancock, who was unarmed, to Jett’s home.

A female witness said Jett ordered Hancock into a large cage before swinging a metal bar at him.

After Jett and Lynch attacked him, his lawyers said, Hancock managed to take Jett’s gun from him and shoot them both.

“Please understand the terrible situation I found myself in,” Hancock told members of the Pardon and Parole Board via a video feed from the prison.

‘I have no doubt they would have killed me. They forced me to fight for my life.”

Two Oklahoma Republican lawmakers who strongly support the death penalty, Reps. Justin Humphrey and Kevin McDugle, also testified before the board on Hancock’s behalf.

“If any of us were in the exact same situation … we would have been fighting for our lives,” said Broken Arrow’s McDugle.

Hancock’s attorneys have also said his trial attorneys have acknowledged that they struggled with substance abuse during the case and failed to present key evidence.

“We are deeply saddened that Oklahoma executed Phil for protecting himself from a violent attack,” Hancock’s attorney, Shawn Nolan, said in a statement issued after the execution.

“This was a clear case of self-defense and the governor and state ignored a wealth of evidence showing that Phil was fighting for his life.”

Lawyers for the state had argued that Hancock gave varying accounts of what exactly happened and that his testimony did not match physical evidence.

Assistant Attorney General Joshua Lockett also cited a witness who testified that after Hancock shot Jett inside the house, he followed him into the backyard.

There, the witness said, a wounded Jett said, “I’m dying.” Hancock responded, “Yes, it is,” before shooting him again, Lockett said.

“Chasing someone down, telling them you’re about to kill them and then doing so is not self-defense,” Lockett said.

Jett’s brother, Ryan Jett, said after the execution was over that both his and Lynch’s family had waited more than 20 years for Hancock’s execution.

“We have waited a long time for justice,” Jett said.

Hancock was also convicted of first-degree manslaughter in a separate shooting in 1982, also claiming self-defense.

He served less than three years of a four-year sentence in that case.

Hancock is the fourth person Oklahoma has executed this year and the 11th since Oklahoma resumed executions in October 2021 after a nearly six-year hiatus due to issues with lethal injections in 2014 and 2015. Oklahoma has since had more prisoners per capita population executed than any other state. the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976.

Hancock’s execution was the last scheduled in the US until 2023.

The next execution scheduled in Oklahoma is James Ryder on February 1. Ryder was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of 70-year-old Daisy Hallum, and to life in prison without parole for the murder of her son, Sam Hallum, 38, in Pittsburg County.