Oklahoma death-row inmate Gary Welch's execution on January 5 will be the first in the United States in 2012, barring any last-minute actions by the governor this week.
Texas has executed the most prisoners overall, and California may have the most inmates on death row, but per capita, Oklahoma has the highest execution rate since 1976.
According to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1976, Oklahoma has executed 25.7 inmates per million of its current population, ranking it No. 1 among states by that measure.
Both Texas and Virginia have executed more inmates since 1976, but Oklahoma is No. 3 in the nation, with 96 total since the state started carrying out death sentences again in 1990.
A 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned death-penalty statutes in all states that had them, including Oklahoma. The death penalty was reinstated in 1976, but Oklahoma did not execute anyone until 1990.
Welch is scheduled to be executed Thursday in McAlester. He was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of 35-year-old Robert Dean Hardcastle in Miami, Okla. He maintains that he killed Hardcastle in self-defense, but prosecutors say there was evidence that he planned to kill Hardcastle over a drug dispute.
Welch is scheduled to be executed Thursday in McAlester. He was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of 35-year-old Robert Dean Hardcastle in Miami, Okla. He maintains that he killed Hardcastle in self-defense, but prosecutors say there was evidence that he planned to kill Hardcastle over a drug dispute.
Source: Tulsa World, January 3, 2012
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