Oklahoma killer put to death for 1999 murder

OKLAHOMA CITY – Tulsa County killer John Fitzgerald Hanson was put to death Thursday by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

The time of death was 10:11 a.m.

Hanson, who also went by George John Hanson, was sentenced to death for the 1999 shooting death of Mary Bowles, 77, a retired bank executive whom he and his accomplice, Victor Miller, abducted from a Tulsa mall. Bowles was shot four to six times. Her body was later found in a dirt pit near Owasso.

Bystander Jerald Thurman was also killed.

“Today, justice was finally served for Mary Bowles and Jerald Thurman,” said Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. “After more than 25 years of waiting, the killer who brutally took these two precious lives has paid the ultimate price for his heinous crime. This case demonstrates that no matter how long it takes, Oklahoma will hold murderers accountable for their crimes.”

In May, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to decline clemency.

His attorney, Callie Heller, told the board that Hanson was homeless, developmentally disabled and didn’t get a fair shot at presenting mitigating evidence.

Hanson was imprisoned in Louisiana for an unrelated crime before being transferred in March to Oklahoma so his execution could be carried out.