Oklahoma man executed for 2001 killing of girlfriend’s husband

McALESTER, Okla. — An Oklahoma man was put to death Thursday for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend’s estranged husband as he arrived to pick up his two young children before Thanksgiving. It was the first in a pair of executions in the U.S. scheduled for Thursday.

James Pavatt, 73, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in McAlester. His breathing did not appear labored during the execution, and he was declared unconscious about six minutes before being pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. CT.

In Texas, John Allen Rubio was set to be put to death Thursday evening. The 46-year-old was convicted of fatally stabbing and beheading three young children in 2003 in Brownsville, a border city with Mexico.

Although the death penalty is getting renewed attention after the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee in September, the U.S. is on track to surpass 40 executions for a second consecutive year — a pace driven by Florida.

Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would commute hundreds of death sentences before leaving office, which experts say would be the largest mass clemency in American history.

On Thursday, former Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip pleaded guilty to…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health