OKLAHOMA CITY — Convicted murderer George John Hanson is back in Oklahoma custody for his death sentence to be carried out later this year. The state Department of Corrections transferred the inmate late yesterday from a Louisiana federal prison to Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester at the request of Attorney General Gentner Drummond.
Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, and an accomplice carjacked and kidnapped Mary Bowles from a Tulsa shopping mall in 1999 before shooting the 77-year-old woman to death at an isolated dirt pit near Owasso. Hanson’s accomplice then killed Jerald Max Thurman, who was at the scene and witnessed the crime.
Although a Tulsa County jury sentenced Hanson to death, he had been in federal prison in Louisiana serving a separate life sentence for bank robbery.
Drummond said he is thankful that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Bureau of Prisons allowed Hanson’s transfer after the State of Oklahoma had been previously blocked by the Biden Administration.
“For the family and friends of Mary Bowles, the wait for justice has been a long and frustrating one,” said Drummond. “While the Biden Administration inexplicably protected this vicious killer from the execution chamber, I am grateful President Trump and Attorney General Bondi recognized the importance of this murderer being back in Oklahoma so justice can be served.”
He requested the transfer on Jan. 23, the same week that President Trump issued an executive order “to ensure that the laws that authorize capital punishment are respected and faithfully implemented, and to counteract the politicians and judges who subvert the law by obstructing and preventing the execution of capital sentences.”
The Attorney General’s Office is expected to ask the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to schedule Hanson for execution later this year.
