Denver, Colo., Jul 24, 2023 / 13:00 pm
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City responded to Oklahoma’s execution of convicted murderer Jemaine Cannon with a call for the abolition of the death penalty, which he called an “archaic punishment.”
Coakley also called for prayers for the condemned man, his victim, and their families.
Cannon, 51, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday morning at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, about a 130-mile drive from Oklahoma City. He was sentenced to die for the 1995 murder of a Tulsa woman with whom he was hiding after escaping from a prison work center, the Associated Press reported.
Coakley, in a Thursday statement posted to social media, saw a contrast between the Oklahoma execution and the end of nationwide legal abortion.