The state of Oklahoma executed a man convicted in the murder of his former lover’s husband, an advertising executive who was gunned down in his garage in 2001.
James Dwight Pavatt, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former Sunday school teacher, died by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Thursday, November 12, per The Oklahoman.
Pavatt, 73, had been sentenced to death in the killing of Rob Andrew, a father of two children from Oklahoma City.
“Justice has been served for Rob Andrew who was taken from his children and his family far too soon,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a Thursday statement. “I pray that his family finds some sense of peace after 25 years of grief.”
Pavatt was having an affair with Brenda Andrew, Rob’s wife, when he allegedly came up with a plan to kill Rob, 39, according to prosecutors, who argued at Pavatt’s trial that Pavatt was motivated by greed.
Pavatt was accused of wanting Rob dead so he and Brenda could take over Rob’s $800,000 life insurance policy.
About a month after Brenda filed for a divorce in October 2001, Rob, 39, was fatally shot inside his garage as he arrived home to pick up his children, a 10-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy, two days before Thanksgiving, The Oklahoman reported.
Pavatt, who had maintained his innocence until he was put to death, told the state’s parole board last month, “I am not guilty of shooting anyone,” per the newspaper.
The board reportedly denied Pavatt clemency and his execution went forward after the U.S. Supreme Court didn’t grant his request for a stay.
Pavatt and Brenda, 62, were accused of fleeing the U.S. to Mexico, where they brought the Andrews’ two children, after Rob’s murder.
During Pavatt’s October clemency hearing, Pavatt detailed how he fell in love with Brenda and said he eventually realized she “manipulated” him when he was on trial, per the Associated Press.
“I can see why the jury believed that we were both involved in Rob’s murder,” he reportedly said.
Brenda was also sentenced to death after being convicted in connection with Rob’s killing, according to the Associated Press. She’s the sole woman on Oklahoma’s death row.
There are 38 women on death row in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The list includes Christa Pike, the only woman on Tennessee’s death row who survived the state’s attempt to execute her by lethal injection on September 30.
