TRUE CRIME: The Story and Execution of James Coddington

(0:25) Intro
(1:10) The Crime
(6:00) The Clemency Hearing 
(10:44) The Execution

Links to sources can be found on www.jordanismylawyer.com.

Transcript

Welcome back to the Jordan is My Lawyer podcast. Happy Tuesday. As you guys know, Tuesdays are dedicated to true crime and the death penalty, so today we’re talking about James Coddington. James Coddington was executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Thursday, August 25th – just a couple of weeks ago. This episode is going to be relatively short, just heads up – like a quick 10-15 minuer but we’re going to talk about how he got on death row, why the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommend clemency, the day of his execution, his final words, and his last meal – all of that stuff. So, you’ll still get everything, it’ll just be a quicker episode than normal. So, let’s get into it. 

In early March of 1997, James Coddington worked at a Honda salvage yard. At the time, he was 24 years old, and he was battling a cocaine addiction. To put his addiction into perspective, he was spending about $1,000.00 per day on cocaine – a day. I’m not sure how that’s even financially possible or financially feasible, but apparently, it’s not because after a three day binge, he ran out of money and went on a robbery spree. So, he decided he was going to rob a local convenience store. But when he did, he walked away with a lot less than he thought he would, so he had to come up with a plan B. Plan B was that he would ask a co-worker for money. So, he goes over to his co-worker’s house. This co-worker was named Albert Hale. Albert was 73 years old at the time and people that knew that Albert kept large amounts of cash at his house at any given time and on top of that, Albert had previously loaned James money and had also contributed to a drug treatment for James at one time. So, James figured, why not just go ask Albert for another $50. James goes to Albert’s house, watches TV with Albert for a couple of hours, and then asks Albert for some money. While James and Albert were watching TV by the way, James had gone off to the bathroom to smoke some crack, and Albert knew this. So, when James comes back from the bathroom and asks for money, Albert is like no way, dude. I’ve given you money before, figure it out, stop asking me. Albert asks James to leave, but now James is mad. As James is leaving, he sees a claw hammer in Albert’s kitchen. He grabs the hammer and hits Albert over the head with it three times. Thinking Albert was certainly dead, James took $525.00 from Albert’s pocket, which is everything he had in his pocket, and left. At this point, Albert isn’t yet dead. So, hours go by and Albert’s son found Albert lying on his bed, soaked in blood, still breathing, but unable to speak. Albert’s son calls 911, Albert was taken to the hospital, but unfortunately, he died at the hospital 24 hours later. When James left Albert’s house thinking Albert was dead, he goes and he robs five more convenience stores to get more money.

Two days after James killed Albert, Oklahoma City police detectives arrest James outside of his apartment in south Oklahoma City. On the way to the police department, James told the officers he wanted to die, and he tries to kill himself by wrapping the seat belt in the police car around his neck. Doesn’t work, he doesn’t succeed. Once he arrived at the police station, he sat down for an interview with a robbery detective and a homicide detective. James confessed to everything – the convenience store robberies and the murder. He admitted to the detectives that he hit Albert on the head with a claw hammer, thought Albert was dead, but he didn’t call the police because he didn’t want to get caught. 

James was actually tried and sentenced to death two different times. He was first sentenced to death in 2003, but that conviction was overturned on appeal and the second trial took place in 2008 where a seven-man, five-woman panel deliberated for around 4.5 hours before he was found guilty a second time and ultimately sentenced to death again. He then appealed his case multiple times, and his conviction was affirmed each time. Now, it’s important to note that he admitted he killed Albert from the day he was arrested. He never denied that. So, at trial, it was out there. He said, I did this. So, finding him guilty wasn’t really a surprise because he essentially said he was guilty, but his whole point in going to trial was to express why he did what he did, his childhood trauma, and things that he grew up with that led him down the path he was led down in an attempt to basically get a lesser sentence, but that didn’t work either time.

So, he’s sitting on death row for a while, and in the weeks leading up to James’ execution, a clemency hearing was held. For those that may not be familiar, a clemency hearing is basically a hearing where the inmates, through themselves and their attorneys, can petition state to drop their death sentence and reduce their sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Clemency is rarely granted, although the Governor of Oklahoma did grant clemency to one inmate not too long ago. Typically, the reasons for granting clemency are mental illness, a co-defendant in the case was given a lesser sentence and therefore this defendant is entitled to a lesser sentence, or maybe evidence came out that the defendant may have been wrongly convicted. 

 In this case, James’ attorneys petitioned for James’ sentence to be reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and cited to James’ traumatic childhood, early addiction, and exemplary prison record. So, most of the things that were talked about at James’ trial plus his A+ prison record so to speak. And I’ve included links on my website to a YouTube video where you can watch James’ attorney and a couple of other individuals plead James’ case for clemency, but in a nutshell, James’ attorney explains how James’ mom was sent to prison when he was a baby and he was left in the hands of his violent and alcoholic dad. She talks about how when James was a baby, his dad and brother would put whiskey and beer in his baby bottle because they thought it was funny. She talks about how he grew up in poverty in almost uninhabitable homes, how James’ was forced to eat from dumpsters from behind fast food restaurants as a kid because his family didn’t provide for him. She talks about how at age 8, James was placed in a psychiatric ward for six months, where his attorney actually says that he flourished. But when he was released to his mother, who had recently been released from prison, all of his progress erased. She talks a little bit about his addiction and how at age 7, James was huffing paint fumes; by age 11, he was introduced to cocaine. And his attorney says, it was this addiction that led to the murder of Albert Hale. But his attorney argues, look, yes James did this, but he’s deeply remorseful, he has taken full responsibility since day one. He testified at trial admitting his actions, and he continues to express remorse every single day, so for these reasons we ask that you guys reduce his sentence from a death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

At the hearing, the policy director of the ACLU of Oklahoma also advocated for his clemency as well as a member from the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Someone who spoke out in favor of James’ execution, though. was the victim’s son, Mitch Hale. Mitch said in part, “I am here today to say that I forgive James Coddington, but my forgiveness does not release him from the consequence of his actions. Our family can put this behind us after 25 years. No one is ever happy that someone’s dying, but he chose this path … he knew what the consequences are, he rolled the dice, and lost.”

Once the clemency hearing was over, it was left up to the Governor who we know denied the request for clemency and he was ultimately executed. But once it was left to the Governor, the Attorney General of Oklahoma made a statement about the recommendation from the Pardon and Parole Board saying in part, “Two different Oklahoma juries found that the murder was so heinous that death was the appropriate punishment. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board hearing is not designed to be a substitute for a trial before a jury. The juries heard evidence about Coddington’s childhood environment and brain development during the sentencing phase of the trials. The judge agreed and imposed the sentence, which was affirmed after years of thorough reviews by the appellate courts. My office will continue to stand on the irrefutable facts of this case and with the family of Albert Hale and with all Oklahomans, by opposing Coddington’s request for relief from the Governor.”

So, James’ execution went forward and took place on August 25th and he was put to death by way of the lethal injection, which in Oklahoma, is a combination of three drugs, also known as a three drug cocktail. The first drug is midazolam, which is a sedative, the second drug is vecuronium bromide, which is a paralytic, and the third drug is a lethal dose of potassium chloride, which stops the heart. This drug combination was actually just recently challenged by 28 Oklahoma inmates saying that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment because the combination resulted in constitutionally impermissible pain and suffering.  During this trial, the court heard about four recent state executions, including an execution that took place in October of last year which resulted in the inmate convulsing and vomiting immediately after receiving the first drug, midazolam. Interestingly enough, at trial, the inmates proposed two alternative methods of execution, one was the firing squad, which if you’ve heard my podcasts, or YouTube, or even TikToks before, you know that there are four states that do still have the firing squad. And their other proposed alternative was an injection of fentanyl with an anesthetic, which I thought was interesting. Ultimately though, the judge upheld the constitutionality of the three drug cocktail as it currently stands. 

The night before James’s execution, he had his last meal, which consisted of two cheeseburgers, two crunchy fish sandwiches, two large fries and a large soda. James’s final words were: “To all my family and friends, lawyers, everyone who’s been around me and loved me, thank you. Governor Stitt, I don’t blame you and I forgive you.” After saying these last words, he gave a thumbs up to his attorney, and the drugs were administered. According to reports, he was declared unconscious at 10:08am and pronounced dead eight minutes later at 10:16am. 

Now, James was one of two inmates that were executed in the United States in the month of August. If you’re interested in hearing about that other August execution, go ahead and listen to my August 23rd episode. The next execution in the United States is scheduled to go forward on September 22nd, but a lot can happen between now and then, so we’ll see what happens, if it even goes forward, but you know I’ll keep you posted so stay tuned. And if you have any questions generally about the death penalty, let me know –drop a comment on this episode’s webpage on jordanismylawyer.com and that is the easiest way for me to see it and respond to you. And as always, if you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a five star review on whichever platform you listen, and if you haven’t already, make sure to listen to yesterday’s episode which covers the past week of current affairs and the law in an unbiased, fact-based manner. Specifically in that episode we talk about the Biden Administration being ordered by a judge to turn over emails to social media companies in regards to speech censorship, we talk about former President Trump’s request for a special master and the proposed candidates that were submitted by the DOJ and former President Trump, we talk about Steve Bannon’s recent  indictment, and we also talk about South Carolina ruling that the electric chair and firing squad as unconstitutional means of execution. It’s a really great episode, I highly recommend you listen to it. And with that, I hope you have a great rest of your week and I will talk to you guys soon.