Oklahoma City, [Date] - Phillip Dean Hancock, 59, was executed on Thursday after claiming he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two men in Oklahoma City in 2001. Hancock received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma state penitentiary and was declared dead at 11.29 am.

The execution proceeded after Oklahoma's Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, declined to commute Hancock's sentence, disregarding a clemency recommendation from the state's pardon and parole board. The decision was criticized by Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of the anti-death penalty group Death Penalty Action, who noted the prolonged decision-making process caused anguish to the families of the victims, advocates, loved ones, prison workers, and Hancock himself.

Hancock had long maintained that he had acted in self-defense when he fatally shot Robert Jett Jr, 37, and James Lynch, 58, in south Oklahoma City. His attorneys argued at a recent clemency hearing that Jett and Lynch were members of outlaw motorcycle gangs and that Jett had lured Hancock, who was unarmed, to his residence.

According to a female witness, Jett had ordered Hancock to enter a large cage before assaulting him with a metal bar. Hancock's attorneys claim that he managed to overpower Jett and Lynch, taking Jett's pistol to shoot both men in a desperate bid to save his own life.

Hancock's legal team further argued that his trial attorneys had struggled with substance abuse during the case, resulting in the failure to present crucial evidence. However, state attorneys contended that Hancock's accounts of the events were inconsistent and did not align with the physical evidence.

This marks the fourth execution in Oklahoma this year and the 11th since the state resumed executions in October 2021, following a hiatus due to issues with lethal injections in 2014 and 2015. Oklahoma, per capita, has executed more people than any other state since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

The execution of Phillip Dean Hancock raises questions about the application of the death penalty and the role of self-defense claims in capital cases. As the state moves forward, the debate surrounding the death penalty is likely to continue, with advocates emphasizing the need for careful consideration of all available evidence in order to ensure justice is served.