Oklahoma executes man who claimed self-defense in a 2001 double killing
By SEAN MURPHY and JAKE BLEIBERG
Associated Press
McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma has executed a man who claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two men in Oklahoma City in 2001. Phillip Hancock received a lethal injection Thursday and was declared dead at 11:29 a.m. Hancock’s execution went forward once Gov. Kevin Stitt declined to commute his sentence. The 59-year-old Hancock has long maintained he shot and killed Robert Jett Jr. and James Lynch in self-defense after the two men attacked him inside Jett’s home on April 26, 2001. Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 this month to recommend Stitt spare Hancock’s life and commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.
