A man sentenced to death in 1996 for murdering a 3-year-old child was refused clemency by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Wednesday.
Richard Fairchild, 62, was convicted in Oklahoma County for the fatal 1993 beating of Adam Broomhall, the son of his live-in girlfriend. Prosecutors say the deliberate murder was the culmination of systematic abuse, including the burning of the child against a heated metal grate.
Michael Hurst, uncle to Broomhall, said at the hearing he was the only representative of the family who could emotionally handle addressing the parole board. Hurst read a letter from Broomhall’s grandmother pleading for the death sentence to be carried out.
“I beg you show no mercy for a man that can beat and torture a 3-year-old child,” read Hurst.
Fairchild’s attorneys said the murder was the product of brain damage never addressed at trial. Possibly in order to appease his father, a veteran and violent alcoholic, Fairchild, also an alcoholic, took blows to the head as a teenage boxer, according to Assistant Federal Public Defender Tricia Russell.
Russell also linked Fairchild’s crime and addiction to the death of his mother who, she said, was struck by a car and decapitated while stranded on the side of an overpass when Fairchild was 15 years old.
"His mother's death and her manner of death left lasting and permanent scars on Richie and the entire family," said Russell.
Though Fairchild didn’t appear at the hearing, Russell read a letter from the death row inmate to the board apologizing for the crime.
“I loved Adam and his sisters. I am sorry to Adam and his family for everything I put you through and for all the pain and loss,” read Russell.
The parole board didn’t engage in discussion or questions before the vote. Gov. Kevin Stitt’s appointees - Cathy Stocker, Scott Williams, and Edward Konieczny - voted to deny clemency. State Supreme Court appointee Richard Smothermon also voted in favor of denial.
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals appointee Larry Morris was the lone vote for clemency.
Fairchild is scheduled for execution Nov. 17. He could be the third man put to death by the state according to its plan to execute 25 men in two years.
