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Oklahoma SQ 776: Death penalty

Thanks to the support of generous donors (see the Spotlight sidebar on the home page for a list), here is the first in the BatesLine series on the state questions on the Oklahoma 2016 ballot. We will seek to get behind the ballot titles to the legal substance of the...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 15, 2016 9:23 AM

Oklahoma's electrocutioner, Rich Owens

Larry Harnisch, a local history blogger in Los Angeles, has reposted a 1948 Daily Oklahoman profile of Rich Owens, who built Oklahoma's first electric chair and ran it for 33 years at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Reporter Ray Parr had gone to visit Owens at his home in McAlester...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 1, 2014 11:11 PM