John Fitzerald Hanson was the 129th person executed by Oklahoma since 1976. Along with his partner Victor Miller, he carjacked and shot an elderly woman in Tulsa in 1999. The pair also killed a witness who saw them carjack the victim. Little is known about the perpetrators' backgrounds outside them both being African-American. Hanson was born April 8, 1964 and Miller on January 18, 1963. The former had a lengthy rap sheet dating to 1983 for robberies and assault. Miller was convicted in 1981 of armed robbery and sentenced to 30 years in prison. His sentence was appealed and he was released in 1997 after serving 16 years.On August 31, 1999, Hanson and Miller robbed two liquor stores and decided to carry out a third robbery, but they needed to switch vehicles to avoid detection so the two stopped at the Promenade Mall in Tulsa that afternoon, approached Mary Bowles, a 77 year old retired bank vice president who had been involved in the banking business for over four decades before retiring in the late '80s and ex-president of St. Francis Hospital Auxiliary, and ordered her to hand over her keys at gunpoint. Hanson held Bowles in the back seat while Miller drove her '93 Corolla to an isolated spot outside Owasso, then drove down a road leading to a gravel pit. The owner of the gravel pit, Jerald Thurman, 44, was in the process of loading a dump truck. Thurman took out his cell phone and got on the phone with his nephew Jim Moseby. He said there was a car circling through the pit. Almost as soon as he'd finished, Miller stopped nearby and fired four .380 revolver rounds into him.
Miller stopped the Toyota by a roadside with a lot of underbrush by it. Hanson took Bowles out and fired four shots into her with a 9mm pistol. They placed some branches over the body to conceal it and left. Neighbors heard gunshots and saw an unfamiliar car come by. They found Thurman laying by the side of the road. He was taken to a hospital but did not regain consciousness and died 15 days later. Bowles's remains were found on September 7.Meanwhile, Hanson and Miller drove Bowles's car to the Oasis Motel. Hanson went inside, asked how much it cost for a room, and left. He came back a short time later, said he couldn't get his car started, and he needed tools. The desk clerk gave him a screwdriver and followed him out. The clerk saw Hanson and Miller working on the car. Eventually they said they weren't able to fix it, gave the clerk his screwdriver back, and Hanson rented a room. He filled and signed the motel registration card and presented his driver's license. The clerk never saw either man again and Bowles's car was left abandoned in the parking lot. Hanson and Miller robbed another liquor store on September 3 and a credit union a few days later. On the 9th, Miller's wife made an anonymous phone call to police telling them that her husband and Hanson were staying in the Muskogee Econolodge.
A patrol officer also found Bowles's car outside the motel. The officer learned that Hanson had rented a room and abandoned the car there. This information was passed around to different law enforcement agencies and arrest warrants were issued for Miller and Hanson. Miller readily surrendered, Hanson barricaded himself in the room and wouldn't come out until tear gas was deployed. He also hid the murder weapons and ammunition in the toilet tank, wrapped in plastic to keep them from getting wet. Hanson's fingerprints were found on the driver's side belt latch in Bowles's car and Miller's on the fron passenger seat belt latch. A friend named Rashad Barnes said that the two had visited him a few days ago and told him everything.The two were charged with two counts of first degree murder and also charged Federally for certain of the robberies they committed. Hanson was found guilty by a Tulsa jury on May 18, 2001 of murdering Mary Bowles and Jerald Thurman. He received the death penalty for the former and life without parole for the latter. However, as he also had to be tried on Federal bank robbery charges, he ended up not on Oklahoma's death row but in USP Pollock in Louisiana. Miller was found guilty of murdering Bowles and Thurman on April 17, 2002 and received the same sentences as Hanson.
In 2003, the state court of appeals vacated Hanson's death sentence on a technicality and allowed him to be re-sentenced. He was tried again in January 2006, again found guilty, and sentenced to death. Hanson appealed this second conviction but the appeal was rejected. He continued to appeal his conviction during the 2010s without success. A last attempt in 2021 was also rejected. Hanson and 28 other death row inmates filed a joint suit in 2022 charging that Oklahoma's execution methods violated the 8th Amendment. This suit was also dismissed.Victor Miller meanwhile also tried to appeal his conviction. The state court of appeals threw out the conviction in 2004 on a technicality and allowed him to be re-tried. The second trial was held in November 2008 and saw his sentence upheld, although this time he was also sentenced to death for murdering Jerald Thurman instead of just life. In 2013, the state court of appeals commuted the Thurman conviction to life and allowed a re-sentencing for the Bowles one. Tulsa DAs then decided they were not going to press for the death penalty anymore and in 2015 his sentence for murdering Bowles was commuted to life.As of 2025, Miller continues to serve his sentence at Oklahoma State Reformatory.
Hanson meanwhile had exhausted all of his death sentence appeals by 2016 and continued to serve his sentence on the bank robbery charge at USP Pollock. The Sooner State had temporarily suspended the use of capital punishment after some mishaps with execution drugs during the 2010s, but lifted the moratorium in the fall of 2021. Oklahoma authorities wanted Hanson transferred back to them so he might be executed, otherwise they would have to wait until at least 2028 before he was eligible for Federal parole. Attorney General Merrick Garland turned down their request. No specific reason for the refusal was given, but it was thought to be related to the Biden Administration's opposition to capital punishment as a matter of principle. The state filed suit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, but a US District Judge ruled that the bureau was not under any obligation to transfer Hanson to Oklahoma's custody.After the Trump Administration took office in January 2025 and announced its intention to follow a more pro-death penalty stance, the state of Oklahoma again petitioned for the transfer of Hanson. The request was quickly approved by new Attorney General Pam Bondi and Hanson was transferred to the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on March 3. Jerald Thurman's son Jake said it had been a "long time coming" and that his mother Sherry had not lived to see the day he would be executed; she died two years ago.Hanson's attorneys made a last bid to have his sentence commuted to life without parole but the state parole board turned down the request. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case and the execution was carried out on June 12. Hanson did not request a last meal and instead ate the standard prison fare of a chicken pot pie, dinner rolls, fruit cups, and carrots.
>>18025752N
dey just needed mo money fo dem programs
>>18025752>The owner of the gravel pit, Jerald Thurman, 44, was in the process of loading a dump truck. Thurman took out his cell phone and got on the phone with his nephew Jim Moseby. He said there was a car circling through the pit. Almost as soon as he'd finished, Miller stopped nearby and fired four .380 revolver rounds into him.Snitches get stitches.
>>18025772>>18025766fuck off /pol/shit
>>18025752>not waiting until they were out of sight before calling policeJerald, you idiot.
I
U
>>18025752hardly anyone had a cell phone yet in 99
>>18025766I
>>18025815Fuck off ranjeet
>>18025815Hypocrite?>>18025472
G
>>18025766>>18026008>>18026303>>18027332NIGGER
average Tulsa resident
lmao
>>18027339i mean, how can you live in Tulsa if you haven't robbed a few liquor stores?
>>18027717>Jew happened to be bffs with someone who worked in bankingdidn't see that one coming
