Oklahoma Man Is Put to Death for Killing of Girlfriend's Husband, With a Texas Execution to Follow

James Pavatt shook his head no when asked if he had any last words, his breathing did not appear labored before a lethal injection ended his life at the state penitentiary in McAlester.

The 73-year-old was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. CST on Thursday, marking the first of two scheduled executions in the United States that day. Pavatt was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 2001 death of Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old advertising executive.

The execution brings renewed focus to capital punishment as the country remains on track to surpass 40 executions for a second consecutive year, a pace driven by Florida. The milestone arrives after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he would commute hundreds of death sentences before leaving office.

The crime unfolded more than two decades ago when Rob Andrew was shot dead as he arrived to pick up his two young children before Thanksgiving. Prosecutors have said that Pavatt, who attended the same church as the Andrew family, and Brenda Andrew plotted to kill her husband.

Prior to the fatal shooting, law enforcement was informed by Rob Andrew that an attempt on his life was underway after his vehicle’s brake lines were severed. After the killing, Brenda Andrew told police that masked intruders shot her in the arm and fatally shot him.

The pair went to Mexico with her two children and were arrested three months later while reentering the U.S. Brenda Andrew was convicted at a separate trial and is currently the only woman on death row in Oklahoma.

During a clemency hearing last month, Pavatt said he was “not guilty of shooting anyone,” and that he had fallen in love with Brenda Andrew and believed “everything she told me.”

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

Oklahoma Man Is Put to Death for Killing of Girlfriend's Husband, With a Texas Execution to Follow

According to prosecutors, Brenda Andrew and Pavatt conspired to take her husband’s life, maintaining that both shared equal culpability regardless of who pulled the trigger. No family members of Rob Andrew or Pavatt witnessed the execution, though his daughter and her husband visited him the night before, a prison spokesperson said.

As the lethal injection was administered in Oklahoma, authorities in Texas prepared for a second execution later Thursday involving John Allen Rubio. Responsible for a 2003 murder that shocked a U.S.-Mexico border community, the man aged 46 had been found guilty of beheading three young children under his care.

Rubio is set to be put to death at the state prison in Huntsville.