James Pavatt, 73, Executed in Oklahoma for 2001 Murder of Rob Andrew

James Pavatt was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on Thursday without offering any final words.

As Fox News reported, the 73-year-old received capital punishment for the 2001 slaying of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old advertising executive who was shot to death in his garage while collecting his two young kids right before Thanksgiving. Prison officials described the execution as uneventful after Pavatt was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m.

According to KOCO coverage, Pavatt’s final meal consisted of a strawberry milkshake alongside a barbecue spread featuring pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken, baked beans, pickles, and fried okra. Pavatt was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder after having an affair with the victim’s wife, Brenda Andrew.

James Pavatt, 73, Executed in Oklahoma for 2001 Murder of Rob Andrew

Brenda Andrew was convicted in a separate trial and also sentenced to death. Prior to his murder, Rob Andrew informed law enforcement that an unknown person was attempting to take his life following an incident where his vehicle’s brake lines were severed weeks earlier.

At the Oklahoma City residence the couple previously shared, Brenda Andrew asserted that masked assailants shot her in the arm and killed her husband. Prosecutors, however, maintained that she and Pavatt plotted the murder together.

Following the shooting, the duo escaped to Mexico accompanied by Brenda Andrew’s two children, though authorities apprehended them three months later as they attempted to re-enter the United States. At a clemency hearing last month, Pavatt maintained his innocence and claimed Brenda Andrew had manipulated him.

“It was not until my trial that I began to see the extent to which I had been manipulated by Brenda. I can see why the jury believed that we were both involved in Rob’s murder,” Pavatt told the board.

Prosecutors maintained that both were equally responsible for the killing, regardless of who fired the fatal shots. Pavatt’s execution was the first of two scheduled in the United States on Thursday.