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James Coddington in a photo from early August
Photo: Sue Ogrocki/AP
The US state of Oklahoma has executed a man for murder.
James Coddington, 50, was killed by lethal injection on Thursday after years on death row.
According to the court, he had killed a 73-year-old with a hammer in 1997.
Prosecutors say the victim refused to give Coddington money for cocaine.
Coddington was twice sentenced to death for the murder, most recently in 2008 after an initial conviction was overturned on appeal.
After the man's murder, Coddington committed at least six armed robberies at gas stations and grocery stores in Oklahoma City before being arrested.
Hearing before Commission
During a clemency hearing earlier this month before a five-person state pardons commission, Coddington apologized to the murder victim's family.
Today he is no longer addicted to drugs and a different person.
His lawyer had argued that he had been impaired by years of alcohol and drug abuse.
When he was a baby, Coddington's father put beer and whiskey in his baby bottles.
Given the circumstances of the murder, the robberies and Coddington's extensive history, death is the only just punishment for him, the attorney general's office wrote to the commission.
The panel ultimately voted 3-2 in favor of clemency, despite opposition from the victim's family.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt denied the clemency request.
Oklahoma halted executions in 2015 after mistakes in injections and the use of the wrong preparations occurred.
In two executions, prisoners died in agony.
The executions caused outrage around the world.
Then-US President Barack Obama said what was happening in Oklahoma was "deeply disturbing."
In 2021, the state resumed executions.
jpz/AP/dpa