Executions Scheduled in Texas and Oklahoma for High-Profile 2001 and 2003 Killings
The cases could signal a tighter use of capital punishment nationally as states carry out more executions following recent mass commutations in California.
Overview
- Two men were scheduled for execution on Thursday: John Allen Rubio in Texas for the 2003 Brownsville killings and James Pavatt in Oklahoma for a 2001 garage shooting.
- Rubio was convicted again at a retrial after an appeals court overturned his first death sentence for improper admission of co-defendant statements.
- Rubio’s defense has argued he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and claimed the children were possessed, while prosecution experts rejected that diagnosis.
- Pavatt sought clemency after the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended against relief and only the governor can halt his scheduled lethal injection.
- The cases highlight recurring capital-punishment disputes over evidence, mental-health testimony and plea deals and come as the U.S. nears a year with more than 40 executions.