Oklahoma board denies Pavatt clemency in 3–2 vote

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency to James Pavatt in a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, Oct. 14, KFOR reported.

The decision keeps Pavatt on course for a Nov. 12 execution by lethal injection in McAlester, Oklahoma, unless the governor intervenes, according to the KFOR report.

Pavatt was convicted of murder in the killing of Rob Andrew, an Oklahoma City advertising executive. KFOR reported that Andrew, 39, was shot in November 2001 while picking up his children from his estranged wife, Brenda Andrew.

Pavatt told the board, “I cannot speak for Brenda. I cannot explain her actions, but I speak for myself. I am not guilty of Rob’s murder, and I am not guilty for shooting Brenda.”

Pavatt’s lawyers challenged the 2003 jury trial. Attorney Hunter Labovitz said, “Both prosecutors told the jury that the bullets matched, which would suggest Jim was at the crime scene when they knew the exact opposite was the truth.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond argued for the state at Wednesday’s meeting. “He planned this murder coldly and methodically,” Drummond said, according to KFOR.

KFOR reported that Pavatt said he had been manipulated by Brenda Andrew, who is also on death row for the murder. The report said the two were having an affair and that the case involved an $800,000 insurance policy.

Brenda Andrew is the only woman on Oklahoma’s death row at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, Oklahoma, KFOR reported. Her lawyers are preparing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court over whether gender bias affected the outcome of her trial.