Attorney General Gentner Drummond commented today on the state Pardon and Parole Board’s decision to deny clemency for convicted murderer John Fitzgerald Hanson, also known as George John Hanson.
Hanson and an accomplice carjacked and kidnapped 77-year-old Mary Bowles from a Tulsa mall in 1999. She was shot to death at an isolated dirt pit near Owasso. Just minutes before killing Bowles, Hanson and his accomplice also gunned down an innocent bystander, Jerald Thurman.
“The families of Mary Bowles and Jerald Thurman have waited more than a quarter-century to see justice carried out against this callous murderer,” Drummond said. “I appreciate the Pardon and Parole Board for rejecting clemency today. The Biden Administration protected this monster from justice for too long. Now is the time for him to atone for the pain and suffering he has wrought. Justice will be delivered when the death penalty is rightly served on June 12.”
Hanson was transferred from a Louisiana federal prison in March at Drummond’s request. The transfer was facilitated by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Bureau of Prisons after previously being blocked by the Biden Administration.