Documento - EE. UU: Pena de muerte / preocupación jurídica
PUBLIC AI Index: AMR 51/068/2009
15 May 2009
Further information on UA 107/09 (AMR 51/056/2009, 21 April 2009) and updates (AMR 51/060/2009, 30 April 2009; AMR 51/064/2009, 12 May 2009) – Death penalty/Legal concern
USA (Oklahoma) Donald Lee Gilson (m), white, aged 48
Donald Gilson was executed in Oklahoma on 14 May. Governor Brad Henry had rejected a recommendation for clemency from the state Pardon and Parole Board.
Donald Gilson had been sentenced to death in 1998 for murder, in connection to the death of his girlfriend’s eight-year-old son in 1995. He was convicted under Oklahoma’s unique first degree murder statute that allows the death penalty for permitting child abuse resulting in death, without requiring any specific intent on the part of the "permitter."
In his final statement, Donald Gilson said that he was innocent of the murder.
Donald Gilson is the second person to be put to death in Oklahoma this year, and the 27thnationwide. Since the USA resumed judicial killing in 1977, it has executed 1,163 men and women. Oklahoma accounts for 90 of these executions.
No further action by the UA Network is requested. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.