OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An anti-death penalty group plans to honor an Oklahoma lawmaker who filed legislation to study Oklahoma's use of capital punishment.
The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty will honor Democratic Rep. Seneca Scott of Tulsa during its 23rd annual membership meeting on Saturday.
Scott introduced a bill to propose creation of a Death Penalty Review Task Force. Among other things, it would have examined whether prosecutors seek the death penalty uniformly, whether the death penalty is applied randomly in the state and the cost of capital punishment trials and appeals. The measure died in the House Rules Committee.
Death Penalty Information Center records indicate Oklahoma has executed 110 prisoners since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted capital punishment. Another 132 were executed by the state prior to 1976.