Oklahoma: Donald Grant executed – first execution in the U.S. in 2022

On Thursday morning, 46-year-old Donald Grant was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Oklahoma.

Sentenced to death for the murders of two hotel employees during a 2001 robbery, Grant explained that he needed money to bail his sister out of jail and killed the two women to leave no witnesses.

During a hearing before the clemency committee in November, he expressed deep and sincere remorse and asked forgiveness for the murders, but the committee voted 4-1 against recommending a pardon.

Two of Donald Grant’s attorneys had argued that their client was mentally ill and had suffered brain damage. They also spoke about Grant’s childhood in a New York housing project during the crack epidemic of the 1980s, a time when he was frequently beaten and members of his family suffered from alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness.

But the committee also heard members of victims’ families tearfully plead with him to reject the pardon.

It was the first execution in the United States in 2022, with the second to follow just eight hours later in Alabama if the U.S. Supreme Court lifts a stay for Matthew Reeves.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/oklahoma-prepares-execute-man-2001-hotel-slayings-82502532