Richard Smith is scheduled to be executed on 8 April 2010, after he was dispatched to death row by an Oklahoma jury in 1987. On 25 March 2010, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board decided by three votes to two to recommend that Governor Brad Henry commute Richard Smith’s death sentence. At least some of the jurors who 23 years ago voted for Richard Smith’s execution have had second thoughts. Like much of the rest of the world, the Oklahoma authorities should have second thoughts about the death penalty.
