Derrick James, The Woodward News
Tue, December 13, 2022

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the Oklahoma attorney general’s lawsuit against the federal government over the transfer of a death row inmate for a scheduled execution while state officials seek a stay of execution.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor dismissed a request made by Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor and District 14 District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler for a preliminary injunction into the U.S. Bureau of Prison’s denial to transfer Oklahoma death row inmate John Hanson into state custody.

Both the AG and Kunzweiler made a request to the BOP for Hanson’s transfer to state custody so Hanson’s death sentence could be carried out on Dec. 15. The BOP refused to transfer Hanson stating the transfer was “not in the public’s best interest.”

Hanson was convicted and sentenced to death in Tulsa County District Court for the deaths of 77-year-old Mary Bowles and 44-year-old Jerald Thurman.

Records show Hanson is serving a life sentence plus 107 years in a Louisiana federal prison for a series of armed robberies he committed after the murders.

In its lawsuit, Oklahoma prosecutors argued the BOP violated federal transfer statute which states the federal prisons director can order a prisoner’s transfer to a state detention facility prior to their release from a federal prison if the request is made by a state executive authority, present a certified copy of the judgement, and “the director find that the transfer would be in the public interest.”

Attorneys for the BOP argued the court had no jurisdiction to review the claim due to the suit not being filed in the proper district and that if the court did so, the statute gives the BOP director “broad discretion over whether to refuse a transfer request based on his determination of the public interest.”

To read the original article, click here.

Tags: Bureau of Prisons, death penalty, John Hanson, oklahoma