Journalist: Colin Udall (OSU)
Bill OSU-005, proposed by Senator Hayes (OSU), is a bill proposed to make changes to
the death penalty in the state of Oklahoma. It passed in the Senate by a vote of 13-9.
The main change the bill seeks to incorporate is the time of death being altered from a set time
that death row inmates are aware of to an unknown time within a seven-day period. Currently,
death row inmates know the day and time that they will face their sentence. This bill would
change that to a system where inmates only know a seven-day period in which their sentence
may occur. The bill also seeks to ban the use of the gas chamber as a method of execution.
Sen. Hayes (OSU) stated that this bill is seemingly counterintuitive to his own beliefs. They
stated, “I do think that my bill is, on its face, a counterintuitive bill. When I say I want to
decrease the utilization of the death penalty yet I’m making something that increases the power
of the death penalty, that is counterintuitive.” Explaining why they would propose a
counterintuitive bill, Sen. Hayes (OSU) stated, “When you get to the actual reading of the bill, it
is important to remember that we as legislators cannot change judicial interpretation. What I can
do is change how judges feel about the death penalty, so I intentionally strove to increase the
severity of the death penalty. My reasoning is that if the death penalty is more severe, judges are
less likely to institute it on crimes that are less deserving.” Sen. Hayes ended explaining the two
other parts of this bill. They stated that the removal of gas chambers as a method of execution
was common sense, and that allowing inmates to choose their method of execution was a way of
alleviating the added stress of the 7-day period change on inmates.
The bill did face some opposition in the Senate, but after many questions and clarifications, it
ended up passing and will go on to be heard in the House of Representatives.