02 March 2024 :

February 29, 2024 - Oklahoma. HB 3138 for a moratorium passed House Judiciary Committee
Oklahoma would halt executions and state courts would be prevented from imposing new death penalty sentences for two years under a measure working its way this week through the House of Representatives.
House Bill 3138 by state Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, would set a five-year moratorium on the death penalty. The bill would halt executions currently scheduled and prevent state courts from imposing new death penalty sentences. The measure also suspends all state statutes addressing the death penalty.
The bill passed the House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee on Wednesday with a 4-0 vote.
McDugle has tried multiple times to introduce the 5-year moratorium on the death penalty.
"I am a believer in the death penalty, but we cannot continue a death penalty without making some changes in Oklahoma," McDugle said. "My problem in our state right now is we cannot trust the system period, and I hate it.
Along with putting a stop to executions, the new law wants to create a task force to look into what the state needs to implement to avoid executing innocent people. "When DNA started becoming prevalent, many of the cases that had already gone through two trials were actually found innocent," McDugle said. "We had over 10% of people that were on death row in Oklahoma that were proven innocent after they went through the trials."
His goal is to implement recommendations listed in a report from the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, an independent committee that was formed after the state's previous death penalty moratorium.
"A report that came out of this body, the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, put this together with 45 recommendations four or five years ago," he said. "Not one of these recommendations that would help save an innocent person's life has been implemented yet."
House Bill 3138 is now eligible to be heard by the full House of Representatives.

https://eu.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/government/2024/02/29/oklahoma-death-penalty-could-pause-as-5-year-moratorium-bill-advances-to-house-floor-hb-3138/72774807007/
https://okcfox.com/news/local/death-penalty-pause-advances-through-an-oklahoma-committee-jj-humphrey-okc-politics-republican-democrat-capitol-glossip-mcdugle-inmate-ok-death-penalty-review-commission-innocence-executions