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Former chair of OK pardon and parole board now publicly advocates abolishing the death penalty

Silhouette of a man sitting inside a prison cell with an Oklahoma state flag background
Oklahoma prisons Oklahoma prisons (Russell Mills)

A man who served for several years on the Oklahoma Board of Corrections, then several more on the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, wants the state to end the practice of putting people to death.

Adam Luck cites several factors in reaching that conclusion, not the least of which was that he witnessed the incompetence of the state in carrying out executions.

Oklahoma famously botched two executions in 2014 and 2015, by using the wrong chemicals.

[Hear the KRMG In Depth Report on Adam Luck HERE]

That led to a five-year moratorium, imposed by then Governor Mary Fallin.

Luck points out that a high number of exonerations (at least 190 nationally, 10 in Oklahoma) demonstrate that the system definitely condemns innocent people.

He says he’s not comfortable executing any number of innocent people - for him, the only number he can accept is zero.

And he’s also troubled by executing anyone, because of his faith.

“For a place that has more churches per capita than almost any other place in the world, to also have a greater percentage of its population behind prison walls than almost any place in the world inherently holds some contradictions.”

January 31st, EJUSA, an Evangelical Christian organization dedicated to abolishing the death penalty, announced Luck had been retained to coordinate outreach to conservative Christians around the country and share his testimony.

[Hear the KRMG In Depth Report on Adam Luck HERE]

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