The capital punishment system in Oklahoma is broken. It does not work as it should. From start to finish, it is so badly broken that we cannot know whether someone who has been condemned to death is actually deserving of the ultimate penalty.
Several years ago, I co-chaired — along with former Gov. Brad Henry and former Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Reta Strubhar — the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission. A private, non-partisan group of 11 Oklahoma residents, we reviewed the entire death penalty process, from the initial arrest and interrogation all the way through, and even beyond, execution. Some supported capital punishment. Some were opposed.
More: Oklahoma’s death penalty system is broken, commission tells lawmakers
For over a year, commissioners took testimony and received and reviewed evidence. We heard from law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, families of murder victims and families of the wrongfully convicted. We gathered data, reviewed scholarly articles, commissioned studies and conducted interviews.