Eric Patton was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of Charlene Kauer
According to court documents Eric Patton went to the home of Charlene Kauer looking for money. When she denied having any Patton would stab the woman multiple times causing her death
Eric Patton would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Eric Patton would be executed by lethal injection on August 29 2006
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When Was Eric Patton Executed
Eric Patton was executed on August 29 2006
Eric Patton Case
Convicted killer Eric Allen Patton was executed Tuesday night at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, becoming the third Oklahoma inmate put to death this year. Patton, 49, was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. CDT, Oklahoma Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie said. Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency application, filed by Patton’s attorneys, for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Patton was convicted of the Dec. 16, 1994, murder of Charlene Kauer during a robbery at her Oklahoma City home.
While strapped to a gurney with intravenous lines into each arm, Patton made no reference to Kauer or the crime, but thanked his legal team, his family and corrections department employees. “I want to thank the guards here on death row who have been like a family to me, and their lives have been a blessing to me,” Patton said. Four members of Patton’s legal team, including attorney Susan Otto, witnessed the execution, along with a Catholic priest. They sat while watching Patton die. “I’ve had a good life here on earth,” Patton continued. “It’s been a blessing. It’s been a blast. “I want to thank my savior Jesus Christ for all he’s done for me. I look forward to being with him now and for eternity.”
During Patton’s execution, which began at 6:03 p.m., state corrections officials used a slightly different lethal drug recipe for the first time. The new system — in part a response to a challenge filed by Patton — was to deliver a larger dose of anesthesia before the fatal drugs were administered. When the drugs began to flow, Patton exhaled deeply. His breathing stopped a few moments later. Patton received his last meal on Tuesday afternoon — a large pepperoni pizza with sausage and extra mushrooms and a large grape soda. The cost of the meal is limited to $15. Patton had challenged the state’s execution procedure, arguing that inmates may be subjected to pain during lethal injection. Although a federal judge rejected that argument earlier this month, the state Department of Corrections revised its execution procedure.
No members of Patton’s family or Kauer’s family witnessed the execution, correction department officials said.
Patton, who had a lengthy criminal record of burglaries and robberies in Oklahoma and California, was accused of attacking Kauer after he knocked on her door and asked her for money.
Kauer, then 56, had taken the day off work from her job at Blue Cross and Blue Shield to do some Christmas shopping, according to court documents. Les Kauer discovered his wife’s nude body at the couple’s home with multiple stab wounds from several knives, a barbecue fork and a pair of scissors that were left protruding from her chest, court records show. Patton, who had previously done some painting work for the couple, was arrested 13 days after the murder when fingerprints he gave police matched those on a bloody barbecue fork found at the scene. Patton later confessed to the crime, but claimed in his appeals that he was so intoxicated and high on cocaine that he could not form the intent to kill.
Les Kauer said Monday that Patton’s execution would do little more than stir up painful memories. “It’s kind of hard to speculate as to whether this will bring closure,” Kauer said from his Oklahoma City home. “I hope it does for all of my family that has been involved in this thing.”
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