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MCALESTER, Okla. (KFOR) – The State of Oklahoma carried out the execution of death row inmate Bigler Stouffer on Thursday morning.

image of inmate
Bigler Stouffer

On Thursday morning, death row inmate Bigler Stouffer, 79, was executed by the state. His time of death was 10:16 a.m.

This was Oklahoma’s second execution since a nearly seven year pause.

“As the director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, I am required to carry out the order of the court, which we did,” Scott Crow, ODOC director, said. “The agency done so today with professionalism, respect for the process and the dignity of all that was involved.”

Stouffer was convicted of killing Linda Reaves, a Putnam City elementary school teacher, in 1985. He also shot her boyfriend, Doug Ivens, who survived.

However, Stouffer claimed that he shot Ivens in self defense and did not kill Linda.

“To see truth prevail through the various falsehoods and smoke screens that surfaced is both commendable and [an] attribute to justice done,” Rodney Thomson, Reaves’ cousin, said.

Linda Reaves
Linda Reaves

During the execution of John Marion Grant back on October 28, media witnesses said Grant started vomiting and convulsing after the first drug in Oklahoma’s three-drug lethal injection cocktail, Midazolam, was administered.

Midazolam is at the center of an upcoming trial in February that will challenge whether Oklahoma’s execution protocol is constitutional.

Media witnesses who watched Stouffer’s execution did not report any complications.

“No vomiting, no erratic movements or anything like that,” Sean Murphy with the Associated Press said.

The media witness also said Stouffer had a spiritual advisor next to him during the execution.

“The pastor placed a Bible over Stouffer’s legs and said something that made Stouffer start laughing,” Sawyer Buccy with KOTV said.

In an interview with The Frontier’s Dylan Goforth just 24 hours before his execution, Stouffer said he was ready to die.

Goforth was also a media witness and spoke about that interview during the press conference after the execution.

“As far as his death, he said he was at peace with it,” Goforth said. “I wanted to know if he was dismayed when the governor denied his clemency. The Pardon and Parole Board recommended he receive clemency. He said he thought life without parole in prison would have been worse than death.”

Stouffer’s last words were “My request is that my father forgive them, thank you.”

The next execution, the execution of Donald Grant, is scheduled for January 27.

Grant went before the Pardon and Parole Board last week, asking for clemency. The board voted 4-1 to deny that request.