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Oklahoma executes Gilbert Postelle for role in 2005 quadruple murder

Shelli Milner, sister of murder victim Donnie Swindle, addresses the media following the execution of Gilbert Postelle.
Chris Polansky / KWGS News
Shelli Milner, sister of murder victim Donnie Swindle, addresses the media following the execution of Gilbert Postelle.

The state of Oklahoma executed its second death row prisoner of 2022 on Thursday, killing Gilbert Postelle via lethal injection for his role in a 2005 quadruple slaying in Del City.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections staff announced to reporters assembled on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester that Postelle, 35, was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m. Thursday.

A representative for Postelle's family said the condemned man chose to have no friends, family members or clergy present to witness his death.

Family members of Postelle's victims did attend, however.

"Today is not a joyous day for anyone," said Shelli Milner, sister of Donnie Swindle, one of four people gunned down by a group including Postelle in the attack 17 years ago. "Today ended one monster's life who stole four innocent people's lives."

"He got what he deserved today," she said.

Postelle took part in the murders of Swindle, Amy Wright, James Alderson and Terry Smith in what he is supposed to have considered a revenge killing on behalf of his father, Earl Postelle. Gilbert Postelle allegedly targeted Swindle because he believed Swindle had injured the elder Postelle in a motor vehicle crash.

Media eyewitnesses said Postelle declined the opportunity to make a final statement while strapped to the gurney in the death chamber, shaking his head no when asked.

Scott Crow, ODOC director, said Postelle made the process easy on his executioners.

"Inmate Postelle was, uh, was without comment, was very amenable through the process, meaning that — very cooperative," Crow said. "There really just were no complications or issues at all."

Sean Murphy of the Associated Press said the execution team began administering drugs at 10:02 a.m. At 10:06 a.m., Murphy said a physician checked for signs of consciousness before declaring him unconsciousness. At 10:10, Murphy said Postelle cried a single tear, and one minute later color began to drain from Postelle's face.

Descriptions of Postelle's execution contrasted with those of the Oct. 28, 2021, killing of John Grant in the same death chamber with the same combination of drugs. Murphy and other journalists reported Grant repeatedly convulsed and vomited on himself. An autopsy report later showed Grant had inhaled his own vomit while dying.

Dylan Goforth, executive editor for nonprofit news organization The Frontier, reported this week that autopsies of Grant and Bigler Stouffer, who was executed in December, showed signs of pulmonary edema, which some experts have said could cause inmates severe pain while dying, comparable to the torture technique known as waterboarding.

Goforth said Stouffer's execution, which he witnessed, appeared to go smoothly. After witnessing Postelle's execution, Goforth said this killing, too, appeared to occur without outward signs of distress or complications.

"You know, you don't know because, obviously, they're being sedated heavily," he said.

Advocates for Postelle had argued that he deserved to have his life spared due to an intellectual disability, as well as being the victim of childhood neglect that led him to developing a methamphetamine addiction by the age of 13. In a December clemency hearing, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 against granting clemency.

Postelle was killed 11 days before a trial is scheduled to begin in federal court to consider the question of whether or not the lethal injection protocol used by Oklahoma violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Asked Thursday whether he had concerns about the constitutionality of the execution protocol, Crow declined to answer, and a Department of Corrections staff member told reporters that their questions should be limited in scope to "today's events only."

Chris joined Public Radio Tulsa as a news anchor and reporter in April 2020. He’s a graduate of Hunter College and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, both at the City University of New York.