Steven Hatch was executed by the State of Oklahoma for a double murder
According to court documents Steven Hatch and an accomplice would break into the home of Rev. Richard and Marilyn Douglass. Hatch would murder Rev. Richard and Marilyn Douglass as well as shoot their two children who thankfully survived
Steven Hatch would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Steven Hatch would be executed by lethal injection on August 9 1996
Steven Hatch Photos
Steven Hatch Case
This week, Dateline shared a podcast from 2011 about the 1979 murders of an Okarche, Oklahoma couple, the Rev. Richard Douglass and Marilyn Douglass. Their two teenage children were also shot in the encounter but survived.
The killings lead to a complicated legal case for co-defendants Glen Ake and Steven Hatch, but resulted in one receiving the death penalty in Oklahoma.
Looking for more? Here’s what to know about the double murder, arrest and eventual deaths of the perpetrators.
According to testimony from Ake’s trial, the men arrived at the Douglass home on Oct. 15, 1979, where they asked to use the telephone. Once inside, they forced the couple and their children, Brooks Douglass, 16, and Leslie Douglass, 12, onto the floor at gunpoint. The pair then hog-tied the family.
Leslie Douglass testified at trial the men forced her to help them look for valuables to steal and tried to rape her.
All four family members were hog-tied. According to testimony, Ake ordered Hatch to return to the car and “listen for the sound.” Ake shot Richard Douglass twice and Leslie three times. Marilyn and Brooks each were shot once.
After the intruders left, Leslie slipped her bonds, then she and Brooks escaped and called authorities.
After shooting the Douglass family, Ake and Hatch fled for five weeks before being arrested in Colorado. They were caught after breaking into a cabin and falling asleep.
During their time on the run, the men robbed another home in Hardin County, Texas, where they later testified Ake killed two men. Both killers later said Ake again pulled the trigger when Hatch could not
Both men were sentenced to death in Oklahoma for the Douglass killings. However, Ake was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was initially deemed unfit to stand trial and treated in a mental health facility.
Ake’s sentence was overturned in 1985 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided a psychiatrist should have been allowed to aid in his defense. He was then deemed competent on the condition he was treated with medication.
In the second trial, Ake received two life sentences and two 200-year sentences.
Ake and Hatch were also charged with the Texas killings, but a Hardin County prosecutor had the charges dropped in 1994 under the mistaken belief that both still faced execution in Oklahoma.
Hatch was executed by lethal injection on Aug. 9, 1996, and Ake died in prison of natural causes in May 2011.
Before the murders, Richard Douglass was the pastor at Putnam City Baptist Church and served as president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Leslie and Brooks Douglass remained involved in the church, previously telling The Oklahoman that clinging to the church and its members helped their healing
Leslie Douglass became a teacher and lives in Oklahoma.
Brooks Douglass went on to attend Baylor University and was elected to the Senate in 1990 at age 27. An Oklahoma City Republican, he served 12 years.
Brooks died in May 2020 at his home in Texas after a long battle with cancer. He was 56.
After the trials, Brooks forgave the triggerman at the end of an emotional meeting in prison, the Oklahoman reported. He credited his decision to forgive as coming from “the hand of God.”
He was involved in two faith-themed movies about the tragedy and that decision, “Heaven’s Rain” in 2010 and “The Amendment” in 2018. The second used footage from the first but had a new beginning and ending as well as other new aspects
