| Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project |
| Working to Obtain a Nationwide Moratorium on Executions |
Oklahoma
| Oklahoma Assessment Team | Resources on the Administration of the Death Penalty in Oklahoma |
Professor Randy Coyne, Chair of the Oklahoma Assessment Team, is the Orpha and Maurice H. Merrill Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Professor Coyne has taught at the University of Oklahoma since 1990 and during the academic year of 1996-97, he took an unpaid leave of absence to serve as trial counsel to the defense team in United States v. Timothy James McVeigh. Prior to teaching at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Professor Coyne was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He served as a clerk to Judge Oscar H. Davis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and was a summer associate for the law firms of Arnold & Porter and Steptoe & Johnson. His scholarly publications include: Disorder in the Court, 22 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 247 (1997), Marking The Progress of a Humane Justice: Harry Blackmun's Death Penalty Epiphany, 43 Kan. L. Rev. 367 (1995), Taking The Death Penalty Personally: Justice Thurgood Marshall, 47 Okla. L. Rev. 35 (1994),and Capital Punishment In the Judicial Process (co-author, 2001) the first casebook devoted to the death penalty. Professor Coyne has served as Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on the Death Penalty, as President of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, and as an elected member of the National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union. He received his B.A. from University of Massachusetts and his J.D from Georgetown University.
Mark Henricksen is a senior partner at Henricksen & Henricksen, Inc., where his practice areas include constitutional, criminal, family, probate, and personal injury law. Most recently, he served four years on the Canadian County, Oklahoma Sentencing Board. Mr. Henricksen's career has included serving for five years as President and three years as General Counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. He was the City Attorney for the City of El Reno, Oklahoma for fifteen years and Chairman of the Canadian County, Oklahoma Election Board for four years. He also served three years on the Oklahoma Human Rights Commission. Mr. Henricksen was the 2001 recipient of the Justice Thurgood Marshall Award for Outstanding Appellate Advocacy from the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and both the Oklahoma and American Bar Associations. Mr. Henricksen received both his B.S. and J.D. from the University of Oklahoma.
Assistant Dean David Allen Poarch, Jr. serves as Assistant Dean for External Affairs and Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Dean Poarch began teaching at the College of Law in 1997. Previously, he spent six years as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for an Oklahoma subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company. Prior to that, he spent ten years in private practice representing individuals and business and served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. Dean Poarch is actively involved as a Master of the Luther Bohanon Chapter of the American Inns of Court and has served as an elected member of the Oklahoma Bar Association Board of Governors from 2001-2003. Dean Poarch received his B.A. from the University of Central Oklahoma and his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Judge Reta M. Strubhar recently retired from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, where she was the first woman ever appointed to the court. Previously, she served as an Associate District Judge for Canadian County, Oklahoma, where she presided for nine years. She also worked as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma, as an Assistant District Attorney, and at the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Judge Strubhar received her B.S. at Phillips University, M.S. at the University of Central Oklahoma, and J.D from the Oklahoma City University School of Law.
Representative Opio Toure is a five term State Representative of the 99th District of Oklahoma serving Oklahoma City. Rep. Toure serves as the Democratic Floor Leader and is a member of the committees on Judiciary, Appropriations and Budget, Higher Education, and Commerce, Labor, and Industry. Representative Toure is the author of HB 1013 that would have placed a one-year moratorium on all executions in the State of Oklahoma. He also served as an attorney in the Public Defender's Office for the City of Norman, Oklahoma. Rep. Toure is the past President of the Oklahoma City Association of Black Lawyers and the current County Co-Chair of the Oklahoma City Democratic Party. Rep. Toure is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary. He received his B.A. from Langston University and his J.D. from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Professor Lyn Entzeroth has been a Visiting Professor of Law at
the University of Tulsa College of Law since 2002. Previously, she was
a clerk for the United States District Court for the Western District
of Oklahoma, served as a senior clerk to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal
Appeals, and worked as an Assistant Appellate Public Defender. Professor
Entzeroth was an Associate at both of the Washington, D.C. firms Wiley,
Rein & Fielding and Bryan, Cave, McPheeters & McRoberts. She is
the author of several scholarly works including: Putting the Mentally
Retarded Criminal Defendant to Death: Charting the Development of a National
Consensus to Exempt the Mentally Retarded from the Death Penalty,
52 Ala. L. Rev. 911 (2001), Capital Punishment and the Judicial Process
(co-author, 2001), and the forthcoming article Constitutional Prohibition
on the Execution of the Mentally Retarded: Atkins v. Virginia. Professor
Entzeroth received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a J.D.
from Tulane University School of Law.
Judge Don Ed Payne (bio unavailable)
Resources on the Administration of the Death Penalty in Oklahoma
· Sean D. Murphy, ed., Implementation of Avena Decision by Oklahoma Court, 98 Am. J. Int'l L. 581 (2004).
· Gov. Henry Grants Clemency to Death Row Inmate Torres, Office of Governor Brad Henry (2004).
· Seth S. Branham, Criminal Law: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeal's Procedural and Substantive Application of Ring v. Arizona to Oklahoma's Capital Sentencing Scheme, 56 Okla. L. Rev. 365 (2003).
· Jeffrey L. Green, International Law: Valdez v. State of Oklahoma and the Application of International Law in Oklahoma, 56 Okla. L. Rev. 499 (2003).
· Kristen F. Grunewald, Fields v. Oklahoma 123 S. CT. 1208, 15 Cap. Def. J. 523 (2003).
· Vicki Ruth Adams Werneke, Murphy and Lambert: Implementation of Atkins v. Virginia in Oklahoma, 28 Okla. City U.L. Rev. 161 (2003).
· Stephanie Francis Cahill, Oklahoma Indigent Defense Program Seeks Funding From Courts, 1 NO. 36 A.B.A. J. E-Report 5 (2002).
· Bryan Lester Dupler, The Uncommon Law: Insanity, Executions, and Oklahoma Criminal Procedure, 55 Okla. L. Rev. 1 (2002).
· Carla Mullins, Criminal Law: Guilty of Something: Gilson v. State and the Death Penalty for Omission in Oklahoma, 54 Okla. L. Rev. 647 (2001).
· R. Darcy, Conflict and Reform: Oklahoma Judicial Elections 1907-1998, 26 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 519 (2001).
· Old habits die hard: The death penalty in Oklahoma, Amnesty International, April 2001.
· Judith L. Maute, Pro Bono Publico in Oklahoma: Time for Change, 53 Okla. L. Rev. 527 (2000).
· Seth Branham, Criminal Law: Oklahoma's New Standard of Proof in Competency Proceedings: Due Process, State Interests, and a Murderer Named Cooper - Cooper v. Oklahoma, 51 Okla. L. Rev. 135 (1998).
· Jeremy B. Lowrey, The Response to Brecheen v. Reynolds: Oklahoma's System for Evaluating Extra-Record Constitutional Claims in Death Penalty Cases, 2 J. App. Prac. & Process 123 (2000).
· Craig J. Herkal, You Live, You Learn: A Comment on Oklahoma's Youthful Offender Act, 34 Tulsa L.J. 599 (1999).
· Matthew T. Norman, Standards and Procedures for Determining Whether a Defendant is Competent to Make the Ultimate Choice - Death; Ohio's New Precedent for Death Row "Volunteers", 13 J.L. & Health 103 (1998-1999).
· Capital Post-Conviction Representation in Oklahoma: A Status Report, The Spangenberg Group on Behalf of The Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, March 1996.
· Mark A. Ihrig, Retroactivity and Criminal Law in Oklahoma: "Procedurally" Avoiding Constitutional Provisions, 30 Tulsa L.J. 571 (1995).
· Eric Pfanstiel, Flores v. State: You're Not Guilty in Oklahoma Until You're Presumed Innocent, 31 Tulsa L.J. 349 (1995).
· Rodney J. Uphoff, Criminal Discovery in Oklahoma: A Call for Legislative Actions, 46 Okla. L. Rev. 381 (1993).
· Randall Coyne, Inflicting Payne on Oklahoma: The Use of Victim Impact Evidence During the Sentencing Phase of Capital Cases, 45 Okla. L. Rev. 589 (1992).
· Gerald A. Williams, Criminal Law: Tully v. State of Oklahoma: Oklahoma Recognizes Duress as a Defense for Felony-Murder, 41 Okla. L. Rev. 515 (1998).
