Oklahoma is scheduled to execute James Pavatt, 72, by lethal injection at 10 a.m. Central time on Thursday, November 12, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, for the 2001 murder of Oklahoma City advertising executive Rob Andrew — a killing prosecutors say was planned with Andrew's estranged wife to collect an $800,000 life insurance policy. Hours before the scheduled execution, an emergency request to halt it was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Source: News 9 (Oklahoma City)
If the execution goes ahead, Pavatt would be the fourth person executed in Oklahoma in 2026 and the twentieth since the state's six-year moratorium on executions ended in October 2021, according to the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Opponents planned a protest and vigil from 9 a.m. outside the Governor's Mansion in Oklahoma City, saying the vigil would be called off only if a stay arrived.
The murder: November 20, 2001
Rob Andrew, a 39-year-old advertising executive and father of two, was shot and killed in the garage of his Oklahoma City home on November 20, 2001, as he arrived to pick up his children for Thanksgiving visitation, according to News 9's case timeline.
Prosecutors said Pavatt, a life insurance agent who had helped Rob Andrew obtain a policy worth approximately $800,000, planned the killing with Brenda Andrew, the victim's estranged wife. Prosecutors said the two were romantically involved. Pavatt has consistently denied shooting anyone or bearing responsibility for the death.
Source: News 9 (Oklahoma City)
Flight to Mexico, arrest and two death sentences
After the murder, Pavatt and Brenda Andrew left Oklahoma and travelled to Mexico with Andrew's two children. They were arrested in late February 2002 after returning to the United States at the Mexican border.
Tried separately from Brenda Andrew, Pavatt was convicted by an Oklahoma County jury in the autumn of 2003 of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. He was sentenced to death for the murder and received a 10-year sentence for the conspiracy. Brenda Andrew was also convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to death.
A death sentence overturned — then reinstated
Pavatt challenged his sentence for years. In 2017, a federal appeals court overturned his death sentence after finding there was insufficient evidence to support one of the aggravating factors used to impose it. Sitting as a full court, the appeals court later reinstated the death sentence in 2019, putting the execution back on the state's calendar.
Clemency denied as Pavatt maintains his innocence
On October 14, 2026, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3–2 against recommending clemency. At his hearing, Pavatt apologised to Rob Andrew's family while continuing to deny the shooting: “I am deeply sorry for the pain and suffering they have been through since Rob's death. No family should have to experience such heartbreak,” he said. “I know the family wants answers and I wish I could give them those, but I can't because I am not guilty of shooting anyone.” Because the board declined to recommend clemency, Governor Kevin Stitt cannot commute the sentence through the state's ordinary clemency process.
Source: News 9 (Oklahoma City)
Pavatt's attorneys filed an emergency application on November 9–10 asking the Supreme Court to stay the execution, arguing that new information about juror deliberations raised questions about the death sentence (docket 26A661). Early on Thursday the docket listed the application, the state's response and Pavatt's reply, but no ruling. A grant would halt the execution; silence or a denial clears the way for it to proceed.
A veteran, executed the day after Veterans Day
Pavatt served nearly 22 years in the U.S. Air Force and reached the rank of master sergeant. On November 11, death-penalty opponents carried their message to the Midwest City Veterans Day Parade. “The state of Oklahoma is going to execute a veteran the day after Veteran's Day. And we think that's an insult,” said Abraham Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action, who noted that veterans make up about 10 percent of the nation's death row population. James Branum of Veterans for Peace urged Governor Stitt to intervene, citing innocence concerns in the case.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has taken the opposite position. Drummond says Pavatt and Brenda Andrew worked together to murder Rob Andrew, who was once Pavatt's friend, and that justice will be served through the execution.
Source: News 9 (Oklahoma City)
What happens next
Unless the Supreme Court issues a stay in the final hours, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections is scheduled to carry out the lethal injection at 10 a.m. Central and confirm the outcome afterwards. Brenda Andrew remains on Oklahoma's death row — which currently holds more than 20 inmates with convictions spanning 1992 to 2022 — and continues to appeal her conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. No execution date has been set for her.