OKLAHOMA CITY – Opponents of the death penalty have invited Oklahomans to join a vigil to protest the scheduled execution of convicted murderer Bigler Stouffer, set for Thursday morning in McAlester.

At 9:00 a.m. on the morning of December 9, the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) has invited the public to join the Bigler Jobe (B.J.) Stouffer “Don’t Kill for Me” demonstration in front of the Governor’s Mansion, at 820 NE 23rd Street at Phillips Avenue in Oklahoma City.
Participants will begin a silent vigil at 10:00 a.m. until notice of a stay of execution is received or the execution is carried out. The vigil will conclude with a circle prayer. The vigil will be canceled if the execution is postponed.

On Wednesday, a full-page advertisement calling for an end to the death penalty was printed in The Oklahoman. It called for reprieves or stays on all pending executions. The advertisement sponsored by the ACLU Foundation of Oklahoma called on the state government not to carry out any executions until the state’s protocol for lethal injections is reviewed in a court hearing set for February 2022.

Mr. Stouffer would be the second person executed in Oklahoma following a six-year moratorium that ended when John Marion Grant was executed on October 28. https://www.capitolbeatok.com/reports/oklahoma-coalition-against-the-death-penalty-ok-cadp-and-anti-execution-attorney-comment-on-the-death-of-john-marion-grant/

Sean Murphy, a reporter for the Associated Press, who has witnessed 14 executions, observed that Grant had two dozen full-body convulsions and had to have vomit wiped from his face twice. Murphy reported that it was similar to the execution of Clayton Lockett, which he also witnessed. Lockett’s execution lasted 43 minutes, during which he writhed, groaned and convulsed. It led to a grand-jury investigation and a six-year moratorium on executions.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Stouffer on November 17. https://www.city-sentinel.com/townnews/criminal_law/oklahoma-resumes-executions-kills-inmate-for-1998-slaying/article_0eb6aad2-3856-11ec-8d06-37143c2e6292.html

Prior to voting for clemency, board member Larry Morris said, “We’ve had individuals on a table suffering for 20 and 30 minutes apiece. And I don’t think that any humane society ought to be executing people in that way until we figure out how to do it right.”

In a press release sent to CapitolBeatOK.com and other news organizations last week, the office of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said: “After reviewing materials presented by all sides of the case, Governor Kevin Stitt has denied the Pardon and Parole Board’s clemency recommendation for Bigler Jobe Stouffer II. A jury convicted Stouffer of first-degree murder and sentenced him to death for fatally shooting Putnam City school teacher Linda Reaves in 1985 and for the related attempted murder of Doug Ivens.”

Stouffer’s sentence to death came after he was convicted in the 1985 murder of Reaves.

According to a release from OK-CADP, U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot held a hearing on the efficacy of Grant’s execution on November 22 and rejected Stouffer’s request for a preliminary injunction. Friot heard conflicting evidence and relied on the expert testimony of two anesthesiologists, one of whom did not attend the hearing. Judge Friot found the testimony of the anesthesiologists more credible than two lay witnesses on Grant’s defense team.

“Stouffer is 79 years old and has been in prison for the past 36 years,” said Rev. Don Heath, chair of OK-CADP. “That would be considered sufficient punishment in all other Western democracies. How does killing this man in our name satisfy justice or make any of us safer?”

Disclosure: Patrick B. McGuigan, founder of CapitolBeatOK.com, contributed to this report. McGuigan has four decades of experience as a reporter and commentator. A member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, he is also active in the Knights of Columbus — a Catholic organization that is the world’s largest fraternal group. McGuigan is also a dues-paying member of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP)