Board denies clemency request for Osage County killer on death row

The vote was 3-2 against recommending that Gov. Kevin Stitt consider clemency.

Grant, 60, could be the first person executed since the state put lethal injection on hold in 2015.

He was sentenced to die for the 1998 murder of 58-year-old Gay Carter, a food service supervisor at the Dick Connor Correctional Center in Hominy, where he was serving time for a prior conviction. Carter was stabbed 16 times.

Grant’s execution is set for Oct. 28.

His attorney, Sarah Jernigan, argued that Grant came from an impoverished childhood with a lack of maternal support, was put in a juvenile system with horrific conditions, was imprisoned at a young age and never got the treatment he needed.

“And when he eventually committed a tragic crime, Oklahoma provided him with incompetent lawyers who failed to give the jurors information some of them now say might have changed their decision,” Jernigan said. “Allowing Mr. Grant to be executed is a final injustice in this tragic case.”

Grant chose not to make a personal appearance before the board.

Jernigan said it was not because he was trying to avoid responsibility. He has genuine remorse, she said.

“He is extremely sensitive and susceptible to stress and pressure,” Jernigan said. “Because of his emotional state, he doesn’t want to put himself in a position where he has to revisit the trauma.”

Carter’s daughter, Pam Carter, did appear, telling the board the death sentence was justified, adding that the murder was premeditated.

She described her mother as friendly, outgoing and a person who didn’t treat inmate workers any differently because they were behind bars.

She said the defense attorneys who claim her mother and Grant had some sort of relationship are attempting to muddy the waters.

She said she understood that they were trying to save his life, “but you keep victimizing my mother with these stupid allegations.”

Assistant Attorney General Joshua L. Lockett said that while Grant’s criminal past began with larceny and vandalism, it became violent in a very short time frame, progressing to burglary and auto theft to assault with a dangerous weapon.

Other siblings in the family, who grew up in the same conditions as Grant, didn’t choose the route he did, Lockett said.

After the murder, he continued his violent behavior and threats, Lockett said.

“It is my opinion that the hurdles he has had in his life were high and difficult, but at the same time, I have not heard anything from anyone to suggest that he did not know the difference between right and wrong,” said Larry Morris, a Pardon and Parole Board member who voted along with members Scott Williams and Richard Smothermon against recommending that Stitt consider clemency.

Board member Kelly Doyle and Chairman Adam Luck voted to recommend clemency.

The Pardon and Parole Board in 2014 unanimously denied clemency for Grant, who did not make a personal appearance then, either.

In a statement released after the vote, Attorney General John O’Connor noted that Grant received a jury trial resulting in a death sentence in 2000.

“This was a just and appropriate sentence for the brutal murder of Gay Carter,” O’Connor said. “This conviction and sentence was affirmed after years of thorough review by the appellate courts. I am grateful that the Board denied Mr. Grant’s request for executive clemency. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Gay Carter.”

The state put executions on hold in 2015 following the 2014 botched execution of Clayton Lockett, the 2015 execution of Charles Warner using the wrong drug, a review of the lethal-injection protocol and litigation.

Related video: October 2015: Why are Oklahoma executions on hold?