Oklahoma Executes James Pavatt for 2001 Murder
Pavatt was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Prison officials said he had no final words. He requested a strawberry milkshake and a barbecue meal for his last meal.
He was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the fatal shooting of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old advertising executive. Andrew was killed in the garage of his former home as he picked up his two young children shortly before Thanksgiving in 2001.
Pavatt had been having an affair with Andrew’s wife, Brenda, who was convicted separately and also sentenced to death. Prosecutors said the two plotted the killing. Weeks earlier, Andrew had told police that someone was trying to kill him after his car’s brake lines were cut. Brenda Andrew later said masked intruders shot her and her husband.
The couple fled to Mexico with her children following the gunfire and were taken into custody three months afterward as they returned to the United States. At a clemency hearing in October, Pavatt said he had not shot anyone and said he had been manipulated by Brenda. Prosecutors argued both were equally responsible, regardless of who fired the shots.
Pavatt’s execution opened a pair of punishments planned in the country for November 12. John Allen Rubio was due to die in Texas later on November 12 for the 2003 killings of three children he was raising in Brownsville.
Oklahoma Carries Out Another Death Sentence as Execution Debate Grows
Oklahoma put James Pavatt to death by lethal injection for the 2001 killing of Rob Andrew, despite Pavatt’s claim at an October clemency hearing that he had not shot anyone and had been manipulated by Brenda Andrew. Pavatt’s death marked the start of a pair of punishments planned in the United States for November 12.
Pavatt, 73, was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Prison officials said he gave no final words. He had been convicted of murder and conspiracy in the fatal shooting of Andrew, an advertising executive killed in his garage as he collected his two children.
Prosecutors said Pavatt and Brenda Andrew, who was convicted separately and also sentenced to death, plotted the killing. They argued both were responsible regardless of who fired. Pavatt said he could understand why a jury believed they were both involved, while maintaining that he had been manipulated.
The case also involved Andrew’s earlier report to police that someone had cut his car’s brake lines. Brenda Andrew later said masked intruders shot her and her husband. The couple fled to Mexico with her children and were taken into custody as they returned to the United States three months afterward.
Another execution was planned for later on November 12 in Texas, where John Allen Rubio was sentenced to death for killing three young children in Brownsville. Pavatt’s execution underscores the grave stakes of a punishment that cannot be undone once carried out.
Oklahoma Executes Convicted Killer in 2001 Murder Plot
James Pavatt was executed in Oklahoma for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old father killed while picking up his children. The state carried out the sentence by lethal injection at 10:12 a.m. on November 12.
Pavatt had been convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy. Prosecutors said he and Brenda Andrew, his lover and the victim’s wife, plotted the killing and were equally responsible regardless of who fired. Brenda Andrew was found guilty in a separate proceeding and received a death sentence as well.
At a clemency hearing in October, Pavatt maintained his innocence and said Brenda Andrew had manipulated him. He also acknowledged that he could see why jurors believed both were involved. Weeks before the murder, Rob Andrew had informed police of a threat to kill him after his car’s brake lines were cut.
Pavatt and Brenda Andrew escaped to Mexico with her children following the shooting and were apprehended three months afterward as they returned to the United States. Prison officials said Pavatt had no final words.
Pavatt’s execution opened a pair of punishments planned in the country for November 12. John Allen Rubio was due to die later on November 12 in Texas for the killings of three children he was raising. For the victims’ families, the sentence carried out in Oklahoma marks the state’s final punishment for a murder prosecutors said was planned.
Reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox News.
