James Pavatt, 73, was executed by lethal injection on November 12 at Oklahoma's state penitentiary in McAlester for the fatal shooting of Rob Andrew, the estranged husband of his lover, Brenda Andrew. Pavatt had claimed he was "manipulated" into helping with the killing.
Pavatt was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 2001 death of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old advertising executive. Andrew was fatally shot in the garage of the Oklahoma City home he had previously shared with his wife, after picking up their two young children before Thanksgiving.
Affair and murder plot
Pavatt, who attended the same church as the Andrew family, had been having an affair with Brenda Andrew. They were convicted at separate trials and each sentenced to death. Brenda Andrew is currently the state's only woman on death row.
Weeks before the shooting, Rob Andrew told police someone was trying to kill him after the brake lines on his car were cut. After her husband was killed, Brenda Andrew told police that masked intruders shot her in the arm and fatally shot him.
Arrest and clemency plea
Pavatt and Brenda Andrew went to Mexico with her two children after the shooting and were arrested three months later while re-entering the U.S. At a clemency hearing last month, Pavatt said he was "not guilty of shooting anyone," and that he had fallen in love with Brenda Andrew and believed "everything she told me."
Pavatt said: "It was not until my trial that I began to see the extent to which I had been manipulated by Brenda. I can see why the jury believed that we were both involved in Rob's murder." Prosecutors have said that Pavatt and Andrew plotted to kill Rob Andrew, and that no matter who fired the shots, both were equally guilty.
Reaction and context
Archbishop of Oklahoma Paul S. Coakley said after the execution: "The Church is firm in proclaiming the sacredness and dignity of every human life, from conception to natural death. This dignity endures even for those who have committed grave crimes."
He added: "That's why we continue to speak out against the use of the death penalty, which we are sadly called to do again, following today's execution of James Dwight Pavatt by lethal injection, the fourth execution this year in the State of Oklahoma."
The execution comes weeks after the botched lethal injection of Christa Pike, a 50-year-old death row killer who survived after state officials jabbed her at least seven times with needles, leaving her with severe arm damage and potential permanent brain injuries. Pike was scheduled to die on September 30, which would have made her the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than two centuries, but she was left in critical condition after being injected with two separate doses of pentobarbital.
The U.S. is on track to surpass 40 executions for a second consecutive year, a pace driven by Florida as the death penalty comes under renewed attention. Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would commute hundreds of death sentences before leaving office, which experts say would be the largest mass clemency in American history.
