By Ann Weaver
The Oklahoman
McALESTER -
John Albert Boltz, 74, on Thursday became the oldest man in Oklahoma's history to be executed.
Authorities executed
Boltz by lethal injection after his attorney tried to win a last-minute stay, arguing the state's lethal injection procedure could cause unnecessary pain before
Boltz died from the mix of drugs pumped into his veins.
Boltz was pronounced dead at 7:22 p.m. And with the last words of his life, he admonished those who put him on death row.
There was no quaver of sorrow or anger in his voice as he lay on the execution table, shrouded in a white sheet with two pillows supporting his head.
He was both happy he would be going to a better place and sad for the punishment that would befall his accusers, he said, referencing an Old Testament passage from the Bible in his remarks.
Then,
Boltz closed his eyes, looking more like a grandfather taking a nap than a killer.
As the poison entered his veins, color faded from his skin. Less than five minutes later, a female friend of
Boltz's broke the silence in the witness room by whispering, "He's gone."
The procedure should have started at 6 p.m., but death chamber workers had some difficulty finding a vein on the inmate to inject, said
Jerry Massie, Department of Corrections spokesman.
Jim Kirby, the brother of the man
Boltz had been convicted of killing, called Thursday's execution "death with no remorse."
"It was nothing more than more threats against my family," he said, after witnessing the procedure.
Penitentiary workers went forward with the execution after a federal judge in Oklahoma City had ordered a stay about 1:30 p.m. the same day, which later was overturned by the
10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The
U.S. Supreme Court denied a subsequent appeal.
The former used car salesman and evangelistic preacher was put to death for killing his 22-year-old stepson,
Douglas Kirby, on April 18, 1984, in a Shawnee mobile home park.
Retired Shawnee police
Detective John Moody said
Kirby was stabbed as many as eight times and nearly was decapitated with a hunting knife.
Moody said he believes
Boltz killed Kirby seeking revenge against his mother,
Pat Kirby, who had told
Boltz earlier that day she wanted a divorce.
Boltz could have avoided execution had he accepted a plea bargain prosecutors offered.
Former
Pottawatomie County Assistant District Attorney John Canavan said the deal would have reduced the offense to first-degree manslaughter with a maximum sentence of 42 years in prison, if
Boltz pleaded guilty.
The offer was extended to spare
Pat Kirby from testifying. Canavan said
Pat Kirby told prosecutors she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and was concerned the stress of a trial would push her fragile mental state too far.
Ultimately,
Pat Kirby's testimony won the jurors' sympathies and garnered the death sentence, Canavan said.
"We were all sort of shocked, because juries rarely give the death penalty in domestic killings," he said. "This one was just so mean. A total innocent was killed just to get back at her."
Jim Hankins,
Boltz's attorney the past seven years, said
Boltz probably would already have been released from prison had he taken the plea bargain. Instead, he's spent most of the last 22 years confined 23 hours a day on death row.
Boltz adamantly had claimed he was in his own home defending himself from an attacker.
"I don't think he's particularly sorry that he didn't take the deal,"
Hankins said. "I think he's sorry that no one believes he acted in self defense. I am sure that he wishes the whole incident never happened."
Hankins said
Boltz was in reasonably good health for a man who nearly was 75. He remained a solid Pentecostal, who read daily from the Bible, the attorney said.
Boltz's parents and many of his family members long since have passed away, but friends he had made as a minister and an ex-wife maintained contact with him,
Hankins said.
Jim Kirby said his brother Doug was working at an industrial plant in Shawnee before his death, but aspired to be a businessman.
Doug Kirby was a member of the Shawnee Jaycees, a chapter that instituted an outstanding community service award in his remembrance.
He had bought a small, two-bedroom house because the young bachelor wanted a home for visits with his son,
Jim Kirby said.
In a letter to the state Pardon and Parole Board,
Nathan Kirby, 26, said he only knows his father through photos and stories.
"Not only have I missed out on having a father, but my father has missed out on having a son,"
Nathan Kirby said.
"
John Boltz dying will bring us all some peace, but it will never bring Doug back to us,"
Jim Kirby said. "I think about that every time I look at a family Christmas picture and he's missing."
The state's previous oldest inmate to be executed was
Robert Hendricks, 64, who was put to death in 1957.
Contributing:
Jay Marks
[3 hrs ago]
