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Oklahoma Executes James Pavatt for 2001 Murder of Lover's Husband
James Dwight Pavatt, a former Sunday school teacher, was executed Thursday for the 2001 shotgun slaying of his lover's husband in Oklahoma City. He offered no final words before the lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
McALESTER â James Dwight Pavatt, a former Sunday school teacher convicted in the 2001 shotgun slaying of his lover's husband, was executed Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was pronounced dead after receiving a three-drug lethal injection and did not speak any final words from the gurney.
Pavatt was sentenced to death for the murder of the husband of his lover in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago. The case drew widespread attention at the time and remained one of Oklahoma's most closely watched death penalty prosecutions.
The execution proceeded after the state's routine legal reviews. Oklahoma has continued to carry out executions in recent years despite ongoing scrutiny over the death penalty, including concerns about the availability of execution drugs and the pace of the state's capital cases.
Pavatt's execution marks the latest in a series of lethal injections carried out by the state. No additional details about his final statement or the timing of the pronouncement were immediately available.