"The State’s execution of Benjamin Cole was carried out with zero complications at 10:22 this morning, almost 20 years after he took the life of his 9 month old daughter Brianna," said Attorney General John O'Connor. "Justice is now served for Brianna Cole and the people of Oklahoma. Nothing can fill the void experienced by the loss of a loved one and this does not bring Brianna back to her family. Our hearts and prayers are with them."
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Media Contacts
Phil Bacharach, Communications Director
Office: 405-522-3116
Email: [email protected]
Leslie Berger, Press Secretary
Office: 405-522-1863
Email: [email protected]
Press Releases and Articles
October 19, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY – The federal Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that Oklahoma’s execution protocol does not violate the U.S. Constitution or federal law. The case, brought by numerous Oklahoma death-row inmates, has been ongoing for nearly a decade but now appears to have finally reached its conclusion.
October 18, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General John O’Connor’s Office will prosecute a first-degree murder charge filed against Cody Ketchum, 36, in the 2017 murder of Holly Cantrell. The charge came after the state multicounty grand jury indicted Ketchum.
Ms. Cantrell was 40 years old when she went missing in January 2017, after she left work at McAlester Regional Health Center during her lunch break.
October 13, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General John O’Connor is leading a coalition of state attorneys general in the fight against a lawless and unnecessary federal mandate to track and regulate greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
“The Biden Administration is diverting highway funds away from our roads and bridges to promote its political agenda,” General O’Connor said. “We will not stand for this, which is why I am leading a coalition urging the U.S. Department of Transportation to decline to adopt Biden’s unlawful proposed mandate.”
October 12, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY – Attorney General John O’Connor released the following statement after the Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency for Richard Stephen Fairchild.
“Adam Broomhall was just three years old when his mother’s boyfriend, Richard Stephen Fairchild, brutally tortured him to death on November 13, 1993, for wetting the bed. Fairchild, a former amateur boxer, beat, burned, and threw Adam into the side of a table, silencing his cries forever.
October 11, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY – Ashely Nicole Brown, 35, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the owner of an unlicensed home health care company, pled guilty on September 22, 2022, to exploitation of an elderly couple and to identity theft. Brown also pled guilty on that date to jumping bail.
October 10, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY - Attorney General John O’Connor has led a coalition of 17 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court supporting small business owners’ First Amendment right to free speech and religious freedom.
October 6, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY - Attorney General John O’Connor released the following statement, “Barry Van Treese was murdered with a baseball bat in the middle of the night in a room of the hotel he owned. Richard Glossip managed that hotel and received an apartment in the hotel as part of his compensation. After meeting with Mr. Van Treese about mostly financial issues, Glossip had reason to fear that he would be fired the next day.
October 3, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY - Attorney General John O’Connor filed first-degree murder charges against an alleged drug dealer in the 2019 overdose death of an Oklahoma woman.
September 29, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has joined Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in calling on President Joe Biden to rescind his Executive Order 14019 (EO), which authorizes the executive branch to utilize all federal executive agencies' power, resources, and reach to carry out voter registration and voter mobilization activities.