Donald Gilson is due to be executed in Oklahoma on 5 May 2009. He was 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’. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has voted to recommend clemency. Its recommendation is not binding on Governor Brad Henry.
