Today's Tulsa World publishes the editorial, "Jurors discerning: Dealing with the death penalty."
Tulsa County jurors only have opted for the death penalty in one case filed since 2007. In every other case, they have imposed life-without-parole.
The statistics, presented by Tulsa World Enterprise Editor Ziva Branstetter and writers Curtis Killman and Bill Braun in an excellent analysis Sunday, mirror a national trend. For any number of reasons, death penalty convictions are down here and elsewhere.
The Tulsa County District Attorney's Office has sought the death penalty against nine defendants in cases filed since 2007. In five cases, prosecutors agreed to a life-without-parole sentence before trial.
Those decisions were made after consultation with victims' families, who wanted to avoid the years of appeals.
The Sunday Tulsa World report was, "Death penalty falling out of favor in Tulsa County."
Reflecting a trend across the nation, Tulsa County jurors are increasingly reluctant to levy the death penalty, handing out the ultimate punishment in just one case filed since 2007, a Tulsa World analysis shows.
It’s not for lack of trying by prosecutors, however.
Tulsa County prosecutors initially sought the death penalty against nine defendants in murder cases filed since Jan. 1, 2007. Jurors came back with a death penalty in one case, following the 2009 trial of Raymond Eugene Johnson. Johnson received two death sentences in the deaths of his former girlfriend and her infant daughter, records show.
Earlier coverage from Oklahoma concerns lethal injection issues.
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