Gilbert Postelle was executed by the State of Oklahoma for four murders
According to court documents Gilbert Postelle and his brother David Postelle, father Brad Postelle and a fourth man would go to a home where Gilbert would fatally shoot Amy Wright, 26; James Alderson, 57; Terry Smith, 56; and James Swindle Jr., 49. It is believed the attack was directed at James Swindle Jr who had injured Brad Postelle in a traffic accident
Gilbert Postelle would be arrested, convicted, sentenced to death and executed on February 17 2022
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When Was Gilbert Postelle Executed
Gilbert Postelle was executed on February 17 2022
How Was Gilbert Postelle Executed
Gilbert Postelle was executed by lethal injection
Gilbert Postelle Case
An Oklahoma man involved in a 2005 Memorial Day shooting that left four people dead was executed by lethal injection on Thursday.
Gilbert Postelle was convicted in 2008, for the murders of Amy Wright, 26; James Alderson, 57; Terry Smith, 56; and James Swindle Jr., 49. He was pronounced dead by officials from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester at 10:15 a.m.
t comes just more than a week before a federal trial that is set to determine the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s use of the lethal injection drugs and whether or not it should be considered cruel and unusual.
According to prosecutors, Postelle, along with his brother, David Postelle, father Brad Postelle and a fourth man carried out the grisly attack at a mobile home park home, believing that Swindle was responsible for a motorcycle accident that badly injured the father.
There is no evidence the 49-year-old had anything to do with the accident
According to police reports, Postelle shot more than “30 rounds” from an “AK-47 style rifle,” striking all four people, two of who were trying to flee at the time.
“In her final moments, Amy Wright was screaming and clawing the ground to escape from Gilbert Postelle,” Assistant Attorney General Julie Pittman told the board. “He heard her screams, saw her desperate attempt to escape from him. Rather than showing Amy mercy, he shot her in the back three times.”
Postelle’s attorney, Robert Nance, argued that his client suffered from a learning disability, that his mother abandoned him at a young age and that he begun abusing methamphetamine on a nearly daily basis starting at age 12.
Postelle previously testified via video link from the prison that he had been using meth for days before the killings and had little memory of the slayings.
“I do understand that I’m guilty and I accept that,” he said. “There’s nothing more that I know to say to you all than I am truly sorry for what I’ve done to all these families.”
His execution will mark the fourth lethal injection in Oklahoma since October, when the state resumed lethal injections following a nearly seven-year hiatus.