U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi agrees to a request from Oklahoma AG Gentner Drummond to transfer a convicted murderer to Oklahoma so his sentence can be carried out.

 

George John Hanson was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of 77-year-old Mary Bowles who was carjacked and kidnapped from a Tulsa mall. Hanson's accomplice then killed Jerald Max Thurman, who was at the scene and witnessed the crime that occurred near an isolated dirt pit near Owasso. Hanson has been serving a separate life sentence at a Louisiana federal prison for a bank robbery. Drummond requested the transfer on January 23.

 

Drummond asked the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to transfer Hanson to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center before the next scheduled execution on March 20 so that he is eligible for the next available execution date, which likely will be in June.

 

Hanson was originally scheduled for execution in Oklahoma on December 15, 2022, but the Biden administration refused to transfer him back to Oklahoma.