Oklahoma's oldest death row inmate executed

The 11th Execution of 2021

Oklahoma executed inmate Bigler Jobe "Bud" Stouffer II on December 9, 2021 without the issues that caused the last three lethal injections to be described as botched, reported The Oklahoman.

The convicted murderer was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. It was the state's second execution in a month and a half after the practice was halted for more than six years.

"No vomiting, no erratic movements or anything like that. Just, you could see his chest moving as he appeared to breathe. That's about it," said one media witness, Sean Murphy of The Associated Press.

The execution process began at 10:01 a m., Corrections Department Director Scott Crow told reporters. Stouffer was declared unconscious at 10:06 a.m.

For his last words, Stouffer said, "My request is that my Father forgive them. Thank you," media witnesses reported.

In a policy change, Stouffer was allowed to have his personal spiritual advisor, Baptist minister Howard Potts, in the execution chamber with him.

Potts put a hand on Stouffer's foot and read from a Bible, witnesses said. Early in the process, the advisor said something that made Stouffer laugh.

At 79, Stouffer is the oldest inmate in Oklahoma history to be executed.

He is the second oldest inmate to be executed in the nation since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

He was put to death by lethal injection for the fatal shooting of Putnam City elementary school teacher Linda Reaves in 1985.

He maintained to the end he was wrongfully convicted.

Media witness Dylan Goforth said Stouffer talked in an interview Wednesday about being at peace and ready to go.

"He felt like if he couldn't prove his innocence while alive then his attorneys would prove it after he was gone," said Goforth, who works for The Frontier.

Three more executions are set for next year in Oklahoma.

As many as 26 more could be scheduled next year if death row inmates lose a legal challenge to the lethal injection process at a trial in Oklahoma City federal court. The trial is set to begin Feb. 28.

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