John Hooker was executed by the State of Oklahoma for a double murder
According to court documents John Hooker would break up with his girlfriend Sylvia Stokes. Stokes fearing Hooker would move into a home with her mother Drucilla Morgan. Shortly after Hooker would stab both of the women to death
John Hooker would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
John Hooker would be executed by lethal injection on March 25 2003
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When Was John Hooker Executed
John Hooker was executed on March 25 2003
John Hooker Case
“I’m out.” With those words, John Michael Hooker lay his head on the gurney to which he was strapped and closed his eyes at 6:05 p.m. Tuesday. A lethal mixture of drugs began flowing through two intravenous lines inserted into his arms. Two minutes later, he was pronounced dead, the fourth death row inmate executed by the state of Oklahoma this year.
Hooker, 49, was executed almost 15 years to the day from the day he killed Sylvia Stokes, his 28-year-old common law wife, and her 58-year-old mother, Drusilla Morgan, in his Oklahoma City apartment. Hooker lifted his shaved head from the gurney and smiled as the blinds blocking the state’s execution chamber from view were raised. Looking at the six people gathered to see him – a daughter, a sister, a brother, two spiritual advisors and an attorney – he nodded his head and began to speak. “To all my family and friends – what’s up guys? I’m all hooked up. Can’t even move my hands or none of that, but that’s all right. I’m at peace. I’m good.” He addressed each person witnessing the execution on his behalf individually, then closed by again saying “I’m good. Y’all are good. Y’all stay up. “I’m out.”
He said nothing to the nine murder victims’ family members who were seated a few feet away behind one way glass. As his daughter sobbed “Oh, my daddy,” Hooker made a few loud snoring sounds and his head and feet twitched. He did not move again. “I am feeling a sense of relief like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders personally,” said Leonard Stokes, Sylvia Stokes’ brother and Drusilla Morgan’s son. “I can finally move on with my life and so can my family. Now I can focus on what is important to me and that is my family. “We will always love and remember them. They may be gone physically, but they will never be far from our hearts and minds.”
According to court documents, Hooker and Stokes had lived together for eight years before the murders. They had three children and frequently separated and reconciled during their time together. Hooker was jealous and threatened and attacked Stokes, inflicting severe lacerations to her head on at least one occasion. Five months before the murders, Stokes obtained a protective order against Hooker, but they reconciled and lived together in an Oklahoma City apartment until she said she was afraid Hooker might hurt the children and moved in with her mother. Hooker repeatedly tried to get Stokes to return, but she refused.
On March 27, 1988, Stokes and Morgan went to Hooker’s apartment to retrieve some of her belongings. They did not leave the apartment alive. Prosecutors contend Hooker was already inside the apartment when the women entered and repeatedly attacked them with an 8-inch butcher knife. Morgan suffered 12 stab wounds. Stokes suffered eight. Hooker was convicted of the murders and sentenced to death. Over the next 15 years every legal appeal he tried failed, but questions about some of the evidence used to convict arose after the work of a police chemist came into question.
Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist had worked on numerous cases, including Hooker’s, and left that job after the accuracy of her work came into question. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and other agencies soon began retesting much of the evidence Gilchrist had worked with – including blood evidence used in convicting Hooker of the two murders. The retesting proved that blood on Hooker’s pants came from the murder victims, according to the OSBI.
Hooker was the 59th inmate to be executed since Oklahoma resumed executions in 1979. Four other death row inmates currently have execution dates. Grady County killer David Jay Brown is scheduled to be executed Thursday. Scott Allen Hain is to be executed April 3. Don Wilson Hawkins Jr. has an April 8 execution date and Larry Kenneth Jackson is scheduled to be executed April 17
http://www.mcalesternews.com/articles/2003/03/26/news/local_news/news02.txt