Inmate: Scott Allen Hain
ODOC# 173580
Birthdate: 06/02/1970
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5 ft. 08 in
Weight: 140 pounds
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Location: Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Mcalester

Oklahoma Attorney General News Release

News Release - W.A. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General - John Michael Hooker Execution Date Set

01/31/2003 - Execution Date Set for Hain

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals today set April 3 as the execution date for death row inmate Scott Allen Hain. Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked the court to set the execution date after the United States Supreme Court denied Hain's final appeal Jan. 27.

Hain, 32, was sentenced to death in Creek County District Court for the Oct. 6, 1987, murders of Michael William Houghton, 27, and Laura Lee Sanders, 22. Hain and co-defendant Robert Wayne Lambert kidnaped Houghton and Sanders from the Brookside Bar parking lot in Tulsa. After robbing Houghton, Hain and Lambert forced Houghton and Sanders into the trunk of Sanders' car. They drove the car to a rural location in Creek County and burned it with Houghton and Sanders still in the trunk.

Hain and Lambert were arrested in Tulsa Oct. 9, 1987. Both were convicted and given the death penalty. Lambert's appeal is pending before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

During the early morning hours of October 6, 1987, Laura Lee Sanders and Michael William Houghton were seated in Sanders' car outside a Tulsa bar when they were approached by two men, later determined to be Scott Allen Hain and Robert Wayne Lambert. Hain and Lambert were in the parking lot, waiting to rob a nearby house when they saw Laura and Michael talking in the car. Hain and Lambert forced their way into the car by threatening Michael with a knife. Hain drove the car away from the bar, then stopped and robbed Michael at gunpoint. When Michael resisted the robbery, Hain forced him into the trunk of the car. A short while later, Hain and Lambert stopped and put Laura Lee in the trunk as well.

After robbing Michael and getting the keys to his truck, the two men decided to go back to the bar where the incident began and take Michael's truck as well as Laura Lee's car. Lambert drove the truck away from Tulsa toward Sand Springs. He stopped after driving down a rural Creek County roadway. Hain followed in Laura's car with Laura and Mike in the trunk. The two men took Laura's things, including some clothes, out of her car and put them in the truck. One of them cut the gas line to the car and set it on fire by putting lighted newspaper and a blanket under the dripping fuel line. Mike and Laura Lee were banging on the trunk and yelling.

Hain and Lambert left the area, however they returned a short time later to see if the fire was burning well. The two men stopped at a friend's house in Jennings and left a bag of things belonging to the victims in the garage. They traveled to Wichita, Kansas in Mike's truck. After spending the $565 dollars which they got from Mike and Laura Lee, the two returned to Tulsa, where they were apprehended on the evening of October 9, 1987.

Scott Hain was sentenced to death in May 1988. In 1993, he was granted a new sentencing because of an error in the jury instructions at the original trial. He was eventually re-sentenced to death in 1994. At Hain's re-sentencing hearing, the prosecution presented evidence indicating that Hain and his co-defendant Lambert had engaged in three violent crimes in the months leading up to the murders (the assault and rape of a woman in her rural Kansas home, the kidnapping and rape of a Wichita woman, and the robbery and attempted murder of a Tulsa couple, which included the kidnapping and rape of the woman). In addition, the prosecution presented expert psychiatric testimony indicating that Hain's personality and psychological make-up made him prone to violence. Lastly, the prosecution presented evidence indicating that Hain had escaped from his jail cell while awaiting resentencing.

Michael Houghton's mother, Delma Houghton is troubled by the national attention given to death row inmates. "I don't think we are hearing from my side, the victims' side, the people who support the death penalty," she said. "There is much more media going for the perpetrators." Laura's family presented victim impact statements at the trial. William Sanders, the brother of victim Laura Lee Sanders, testified in part: "The extremely violent nature of this crime and the total lack of respect for human life have shocked ­ shocked me. Absolutely everyone is brought up knowing the difference between right and wrong, and murder is wrong. Once a crime of this magnitude has been committed, a person must expect to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Life, life without parole, and death; these are the choices? All I can say for sure is that I know my sister was not given a choice between life or death. It has been seven years since my sister was murdered, and I'm still looking forward to the time when I can remember who she was and not the horrific images portrayed of her during the various court proceedings. The guilt has been established, and I feel strongly that the punishment should reflect the severity of the crime."

Carol Lee Sanders, Laura Lee Sanders' mother, said "It is very difficult for me to find words to express the horror, anger and disbelief that we felt and still feel, knowing that Laura Lee was put in the trunk of a car and burned alive while the ones who lit the fire listened to their screams for help, and yet only made sure that the car was burning good before they left. Add to that the fact that Laura Lee and Mike had done nothing to deserve this and had no idea who the people were that took it upon themselves to murder them. It is hard for us to imagine that anyone could have that much hate and meanness in them. These things make it even more difficult for us to accept her death. In the past seven years, we have been trying to deal with not only the loss of Laura Lee, but also with the heinous manner in which she was murdered. We know how very scared she must have been from the time she was kidnapped and put in the trunk of her car. It hurts every time I think of the horror that she must have felt during her last minutes on this earth with the smell of gasoline, followed by the smoke, and then the heat of the flames, and having no way to escape. Every time I see a picture of a burning car on television or in a movie, it feels like someone has just kicked me in the stomach. Several months ago, I had to have both of our dogs put to sleep. As I held them while the doctor gave them a shot, I saw them die very peacefully in my arms. I couldn't help but think of Laura Lee and Mike again and wish that they had been able to die that peacefully. In order for true justice to be done in this case, I feel that Scott Hain should also be sentenced to death. Somebody with his mind-set should not be allowed to get off with anything less than the death penalty. There is absolutely no reason why anyone else should ever be subjected to his heinous acts of violence and to go through the pain and suffering that our families have had to endure for the past seven years."

Tena Houghton, Michael Houghton's wife, said, "I cannot watch a TV show or a movie with a fire scene in it, without closing my eyes or turning away, because these scenes bring back the pictures in my mind of Michael's body kicking and struggling and searching for a way out of that trunk. The heat, the fear, the pain that Michael suffered, I can't even begin to comprehend. The mental pictures of this man that I loved so deeply being burnt alive to the point of being unrecognizable are almost unbearable. Scott Hain was fully aware that he was taking the life of two young and beautiful people, so aware, in fact, that he went back to the burning car, not to stop this horrible thing but to make sure it was going to do the job and make sure that Michael and Laura Lee would die. He heard Michael and Laura Lee screaming with pain and terror, saw the car burning, but still did nothing to stop the horrible set of events which he had set into motion." Delma Houghton, Michael Houghton's mother, testified: "I've tried holding a lighted match to my finger, but I jerked it away. I tried touching the electric element in my stove, but I couldn't. I wanted to hurt myself and take away some of Mike's pain." She further testified, "I never had a chance to say goodbye to Mike. His body was so charred, he had to be buried in a plastic bag. His beautiful hair was burned off, his nimble fingers were burned off. The medical examiner says his sparkly and gentle eyes were like hardboiled eggs, and he tried until he could try no more to beat the trunk open. I do want justice for all of us who loved him, but mostly for Michael and Laura Lee, who are not here to speak for themselves. I believe Scott Allen Hain should be sentenced to death. He did not know Mike or Laura Lee, nor did he care who they were. He wanted to kill someone. We had to have our 10-year-old Golden Retriever put to sleep. I held her while the lethal injection was administered. She quivered a little and went gently to sleep. All I could think of was that I wished Mike and Laura Lee could have met death so gently. Until the death penalty is carried out, there is always the chance he could be released. I believe if you take a life, your life should be taken unless it is self-defense or to save the life of another. The only true justice would be to have Mike and Laura Lee returned to us. We know that cannot be. I feel our families have been serving a death sentence for almost seven years. Mike and Laura Lee received the death penalty without a trial, with no appeals, with no mercy and for no reason; they had committed no crime." Ashley Houghton, Michael Houghton's father, testified in part: "All that I, Michael and his family want is justice. I believe that the death sentence is deserved. The brutal way Michael was murdered, the brutal way the murder was carried out and the suffering that Michael and Laura Lee went through in the trunk of the car shows the total disregard for ­ for life that Scott Hain has. He deserves the death penalty."

UPDATE: The victims' family members all stated after the execution that the road to justice had been long and stressful but that they had finally arrived. The families said the execution was not a happy or joyful event but one that will help to let them go on with the rest of their lives with a little peace. "Tomorrow morning we won't have to deal with Scott Allen Hain in our lives," said Mike's mother, Delma Houghton. Laura's mother, Carol Sanders, said Hain's death only brings closure to the court proceedings. "He died peacefully, unlike Michael and Laura Lee," she said.

Phyllis Comstock, who was sexually assaulted by Hain and Lambert in Kansas, said the execution does bring closure for her and for other Kansas victims. Authorities said the murders of Houghton and Sanders ended a four-month crime spree by Hain and Lambert. The two were accused of sexually assaulting several Kansas women and of later attacking a Tulsa couple, permanently injuring the man with a blow from a claw hammer and sexually assaulting and beating the woman. Hain denied involvement in those attacks and was not tried for them. Lambert is seeking to have his death sentence for the murders vacated based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mentally retarded people cannot be executed. Lambert has tested mildly retarded. Before the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the execution to proceed Thursday evening, the federal appeals court in Denver earlier Thursday had for the second time in two days blocked Hain's execution. Thursday's 7-2 decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came about six hours before Hain's originally scheduled 6 p.m. execution at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. That decision was a denial of Attorney General Drew Edmondson's emergency request to overturn the stay that a panel of the court had granted 2-1 Wednesday night. Instead of allowing the execution to proceed, nine judges of the Denver-based court were to hear arguments May 6 on Hain's claim that his lawyers were entitled to be paid from federal funds to represent him at a second state clemency hearing.

Edmondson then made an emergency request to the Supreme Court to overturn the stay. The attorney general argued in a motion that the 10th Circuit judges had abused their discretion by delaying the execution. The state Pardon and Parole Board on Monday had unanimously denied Hain's request for clemency. But Presson told the appellate judges that he did not present a credible case for clemency because he could not prepare a case due to a lack of funds. Edmondson took the position that Hain should be executed before the court decides if he and other indigent death-row inmates are entitled to have their lawyers paid from federal funds for work on state clemency cases. In Hain's case, the issue is moot because he had a clemency hearing, Edmondson argued. Presson argued that Hain's appeal was not moot because there is precedent in Oklahoma for the Pardon and Parole Board to conduct new hearings or take another vote. The lawyer cited two instances during former Gov. Henry Bellmon's term when board members reconsidered, at the governor's request, their decision against clemency and voted to recommend clemency.

The Supreme Court took two actions Thursday to put the execution back on schedule. It denied Hain's request for a stay and vacated the stay granted by the lower court. The decision to allow the execution came from the court's conservatives: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other four noted their objections. "If this case was not surreal before the stay was issued, the case started taking on that surreal feeling last night," Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Robert Whittaker said Thursday. The courts' inability to decide the funding issue had an impact on the case when the issue didn't affect Hain's conviction or sentence, he said.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Scott Hain (OK) - April 3, 2003 - 6:00 PM CST, 7:00 PM EST.

The state of Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Scott Hain, a juvenile offender, April 3 for the 1987 murders of Michael William Houghton and Laura Lee Sanders in Tulsa. Hain, a white man, was 17 years old at the time of the crime, and had no prior history of violence. The United States remains one of two countries in the world – along with Iran – that executes people for crimes they committed as children.

On October 4, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 not to review the case of Kevin Stanford, a juvenile offender on death row in Kentucky. Four justices – John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer – dissented, claiming that the United States “should put an end to this shameful practice.”

As part of the Campaign to End Juvenile Executions, NCADP staff members have been active on the ground across the country during the past few months, mobilizing activists and advocating for legislation banning juvenile executions in the states. If one or two juvenile execution bills pass through the state legislatures before Hain’s execution date arrives, the U.S. Supreme Court could grant a stay and hear the case. However, in the likely event that the high court refuses to intervene for Hain, it is critically important for abolitionists around the nation and abroad to contact the state of Oklahoma and protest this scheduled execution and the juvenile death penalty as a whole.

Hain, along with his co-defendant Robert Lambert, allegedly kidnapped Michael William Houghton and Laura Lee Saunders on October 6, 1987; they then robbed them, threw them in the truck of Saunders’ car, and set the car on fire. Both victims died, and the state charged Hain and Lambert with capital murder. A Tulsa court sentenced Hain to death in May 1988, but in 1993, he successfully appealed based on an error in jury instructions. One year later, the state sentenced him to death again.

The mitigating evidence in Hain’s case makes his pending execution an embarrassment to the state of Oklahoma and the United States as an nation. His upbringing clearly contributed to his poor decision-making, as did the substance abuse troubles he endured as a result of exposure to drugs and alcohol at an extremely young age. Hain’s father, a heavy drinker himself, introduced him to marijuana when he was 9 or 10 years old, and physically abused him as a child. His mother, meanwhile, was under court-ordered treatment for alcoholism.

At age 8, Hain suffered sexual abuse from his babysitter, another traumatic event that damaged him for years to come. He dropped out of school at age 13, punctuating a poor education career. As a teenager, his father involved him in a burglary and theft, and he eventually spent time in juvenile detention for property offenses (however, he had no record of violence). At age 17, after leaving a juvenile facility, he lived on the streets, and struggled with drug and alcohol abuse – a problem he inherited from his family. He then met Robert Lambert, who was 4 years older than he, and they became involved in crime to buy drugs.

Hain’s story represents the tragedy of the death penalty system in the United States. His upbringing, over which he had no control, clearly misdirected his moral compass and encouraged him to engage in a life of substance abuse and crime. Before he even reached the age in which this society recognizes people as adults, the state of Oklahoma sentenced him to death.

Aside from possible U.S. Supreme Court intervention, Hain has an opportunity to convince the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and Gov. Brad Henry to commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Henry, a Democrat, recently took office and has shown little mercy thus far. He had a golden opportunity to commute a sentence in February, when the Pardon and Parole Board recommended clemency for Bobby Joe Fields. He denied the recommendation, and the state executed Fields on Feb. 14. However, these circumstances are different; according to 2002 Gallup Poll, 69 percent of Americans oppose the execution of people who committed crimes below the age of 18, and the United States is clearly moving toward an end to juvenile executions.

In 1999, the state of Oklahoma executed Sean Sellers, a white man who committed a murder at the age of 16. Sellers is the only juvenile offender executed in Oklahoma since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, and Gov. Henry should see to it that he is the last. Please write the state of Oklahoma and request clemency for Scott Hain.

ABCNews

"Court: Former Teen Killer Can Be Executed; Supreme Court Allows for Oklahoma Execution of Man Who Was 17 When He Killed Two People." (Associated Press April 3, 2003)

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court overturned a stay Thursday and allowed Oklahoma to move ahead with the execution of a man who killed two people when he was 17, an unusual step for justices who have been bitterly divided on capital punishment for people who commit crimes as juveniles. Scott Allen Hain had won the stay a day earlier from an appeals court. He was expected to be put to death Thursday night for helping to burn a man and woman alive in the trunk of their car in 1987. Oklahoma had asked the court to intervene, arguing that Hain's appeals had run out.

The court's intervention seemed to shut the door on hopes by death row opponents that the court would soon consider banning executions of people who were juveniles when they committed their crimes. The issue has been contentious for the court, which has held that states can put to death people who were 16 or 17 when they killed. Last October, the four most liberal justices said the court should raise the age to 18. "The practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society," Justice John Paul Stevens said, along with Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. The United States is one of a few countries that allow such executions.

The decision to allow the execution came from the court's conservatives: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The other four noted their objections. Hain had won a reprieve from a panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, which voted 2-1 Wednesday night to stay the execution.

Hain is on death row for the killings of Michael Houghton, 27, and Laura Lee Sanders, 22, restaurant co-workers and friends, who were kidnapped Oct. 6, 1987, from behind a Tulsa bar and stuffed into the trunk of Sanders' car. Hain was convicted with a man of taking the couple to a rural area and setting the car on fire. Hain, now 32, says he acted under the control of Robert Lambert, a 21-year-old he had met on Tulsa's streets.

At issue in his appeal was whether the government should have paid for Hain's lawyer at a clemency hearing. An attorney appeared at the hearing with Hain, but said he could not present a credible case for clemency because he hadn't been able to prepare it, including bringing in experts to testify, because of lack of funds. "If Hain would ultimately prevail in this appeal, it remains possible that he could persuade the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to reconsider its decision and/or grant him a new clemency hearing," two 10th Circuit judges wrote. Hain's lawyer, Steven Presson, said Hain talks about his regrets, describing haunting nightmares and dreams of trying to open the trunk but burning his hands.

Sanders' mother, Carol, was unmoved by Hain's apologies when he asked the parole board to spare his life. "I don't know that he has heart to care," she said. "I think we're all looking forward to getting him out of our lives." The murders ended what authorities said was a four-month crime spree by Hain and Lambert. The two were accused of sexually assaulting two Kansas women and later attacking a Tulsa couple, permanently injuring the man with a blow from a claw hammer and sexually assaulting and beating the woman. Hain denied involvement in those attacks and was not tried for them after his conviction in the murders.

The Death House.Com

"Hain Executed After Supreme Court Overturns Stay," by Robert Anthony Phillips. (April 3, 2003)

McALESTER, Okla. - Juvenile killer Scott Allen Hain was executed by lethal injection Thursday night after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a stay given to him by a lower appeals court. Hain, who murdered two people at the age of 17, was pronounced dead at 8:39 p.m. at the state penitentiary. He had no last statement Hain became the 22nd condemned killer put to death in the modern era of the death penalty for murders committed at the age of 16 or 17. Hain was 32-years old. The execution came after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to overturn a lower court ruling that had, at the time, stopped Hain's execution. The lower court had wanted to hear the issue of whether the state should have paid for a lawyer to represent Hain at a clemency hearing.

The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles had rejected clemency for Hain, who participated in the robbery and kidnapping of two people. The two were locked in the trunk of a car and killed when the vehicle was set on fire. Although Hain appeared before the panel to apologize for the murders he committed, his lawyer said he did not have the money to hire experts and present a full clemency case. The murders occurred in 1987. Lara Lee Sanders and Michael Houghton were in the parking lot of a Tulsa bar when they were kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car. Hain and Lambert then drove to a remote location, where they cut the gas line and set fire to the vehicle.

Supreme Refusal

Last October, a deeply divided U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case involving the constitutionality of sentencing those under 18 to death. Thursday's narrow decision by the justices reaffirmed that decision.

In 1989, the high court ruled that it was constitutional to sentence 16 and 17-year-olds to death. Anti-death penalty groups had hoped that the high court would ban the execution of juvenile killers because the jurists had also switched gears to declare unconstitutional the execution of mentally retarded killers. As in other cases involving the so called juvenile death penalty, the high court was split on whether Hain should be exeucted. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Sandra Day O'Connor, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy voted to life the stay of execution for Hain.

Anti-death penalty, religious, child advocacy and medical groups say that teenage killers should not be subject to the death penalty because the adolescent brain has not been fully developed and teens do not have the same emotional controls as adults. The lawyer for the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch has stated that "Executing someone who was a child at the time of his crimes isn't justice. It's a medieval practice that should be abandoned." There are about 80 persons on death rows across the Untied States who were sentenced to death for murders committed while they were under the age of 18.

Immature Brains

The American Bar Association, in its campaign against juvenile executions, points to studies which show the adolescent brain is not fully developed and doesn't have the ability to fully control emotions and anticipate consequences of actions. "As a society, we recognize the limitations of adolescents and restrict their privilege to drive, drink alcohol, smoke, vote, marry, enter into contracts, and even watch "R" rated movies, the legal group stated."Each year we spend billions dollars for drug prevention and sex education to protect youth during this vulnerable time...thus when it comes to capital punishment, society is guilty of a critical contradiction when we subject adolescent offenders to the death penalty." Anti-death penalty groups also pointed out that national polls have shown that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not favor the death penalty for 16 and 17-year-old killers.

Pro Death Penalty Group: No Big Deal

Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a group which supports the death penalty, said although the executions of kid killers grabs media attention, the CFLF doesn't view it as a major death penalty issue. "If a state enacts a cutoff of eighteen I don’t think it will seriously impact the death penalty," Scheidegger said. But, Scheidegger added that he sees "nothing magical" about an individual’s eighteenth birthday - making a killer eligible for the death penalty on his eighteenth birthday and not eligible the day before.

States And Juvenile Death Penalty Currently, 16 states, the federal government and the military require the killer to be a minimum of 18 before prosecutors can seek the death penalty. Of those states Texas (allowing the death penalty for those 17 and older) has executed the greatest number of juveniles killers - 13. The state, before Hain was put to death, had executed the last six juvenile killers in the United States. Virginia, where prosecutors are allowed to seek the death penalty against 16-year-olds, has executed three. But of the 22 states allowing 16 or 17-year-old to face a death sentence, juvenile killers have been put to death in only six of the states. The states that do not allow the death penalty for anyone under 18 are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, Indiana, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington state.

David Elliot, a spokesman for the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said that in the current legislation sessions across the Untied States, bills that would bar the death penalty for those under 18 have been introduced in 10 states. But as of yet, no state has lowered its death penalty eligibility age. Elliot said that currently, only three bills banning juvenile executions are still alive in legislatures in Nevada, Florida and South Dakota. In Nevada, the Assembly has approved changes in its death penalty laws that would prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against 16 or 17 -year olds. The state only has one person who has been sentenced to death for a murder committed at 16. His sentence would be commuted to life in prison.

Stanford Case

In the modern death penalty era, the landmark ruling allowing juvenile executions came in the Kentucky case involving Kevin Stanford, convicted of the rape and murder of a female gas station attendant. Stanford was 17-years-old at the time.The high court in 1989 upheld the death sentence against Stanford.Despite the ruling, Stanford is still alive. He has exhausted his appeals and could be executed this year. However, Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton has yet to sign a death warrant calling for Stanford's execution.Another juvenile killer facing death is Ronald Chris Foster, a Mississippi man who at 17 robbed and killed a convenience

The last juvenile killer put to death in the United States, before Hain, was Toronto Patterson, who was executed by lethal injection in Texas in August 2002. Patterson killed a mother and her two children. Patterson was 27 at the time of his execution. April 4, 2003 Scott Allen Hain

Daily Oklahoman

"Family Awaits Execution of Double Murderer," by Rochelle Hines. (AP March 24, 2003)

OKLAHOMA CITY - Sylvia Stokes and Drusilla Morgan have been gone since 1988, but for Cynthia Stokes they live on in her memories and in the faces of her sister's children. Cynthia Stokes was 28 years old when she went from being a mother of three to a mother of seven. She had to take care of Sylvia Stokes' three young children and her 11-year-old sister, Crystal. "I miss them and stuff, but they're still here," Cynthia Stokes said Monday of the children, now ages 20, 10 and 16. "Every day is a blessing. They have really been my strength."

Cynthia Stokes said the children have not had any contact with their father, John Michael Hooker, who faces execution Tuesday evening for the deaths of their mother and grandmother. "I never raised them to be against him. I always left that door open," Cynthia Stokes said. "He never reached out to them either, to make amends or tell his side of the story or anything like that."

Hooker's lawyer filed an appeal and a request for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday. The attorney general's office was crafting a response, said Charlie Price, a spokesman with the attorney general's office. Calls to attorney Randy Bauman were not immediately returned. If it happens, Hooker will be executed nearly 15 years to the day he stabbed Morgan and Stokes to death.

March 27, 1988, was the day Sylvia Stokes had wanted Hooker out of the apartment they shared with their children. About a week before, she had taken the children and moved in with her mother. Sylvia Stokes had told Cynthia Stokes that she feared Hooker would do something to her and the children, court records show.

According to witnesses, Hooker entered the apartment that day shortly before Sylvia Stokes and Morgan went there to pick up some clean clothes and food for the children. Residents who lived in the apartment below Hooker's said they heard loud noises, and later saw Hooker with blood on his clothing. When Cynthia and her sister, Crystal, went to check on their relatives the following day, Cynthia had trouble getting into Hooker's apartment. She managed to push the door open slightly, looked in and saw her mother on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood. "I'm feeling stuff I forgot," Cynthia Stokes said, crying as she recalled the moment. Sylvia Stokes was stabbed eight time and Morgan 12, causing internal bleeding that killed them both.

Violence marred the eight-year relationship between Hooker and Sylvia Stokes. One witness reported seeing Hooker beat his girlfriend in the head with a stick that resembled a pool cue in 1986. The manager of the apartment complex said she had seen bruises on Stokes' head. Sylvia Stokes sought a victim's protective order against Hooker in October 1987, but the couple reconciled and planned to marry in February 1988. They broke up again. A friend of the couple testified at Hooker's trial that Hooker had talked about killing Sylvia Stokes and possibly her mother just four days before the murders. For Cynthia Stokes, following through with that threat took away a sister who was like a twin, they were about a year apart in age, and a mother who was well-liked. "Everywhere we go, people were like `we love Miss Dru.' If they needed a cup of sugar or a few dollars to carry them over until they got paid, she'd do it," Cynthia Stokes said of her mother.

For a while in 2001, it looked like Hooker's case might change course. Officials re-examined DNA evidence because it originally had been handled by Oklahoma City police chemist Joyce Gilchrist. Investigators retested DNA evidence submitted in all of Gilchrist's cases after officials accused her of performing shoddy work. Results of the retesting, however, showed that blood from Stokes and Morgan was found on Hooker's pants, officials said.

The 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Denver denied Hooker's appeal last year and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal in January. "I'm glad it's fixing to be over," Cynthia Stokes said. "It's something that's never going to go away. We're going to always live with it." Crystal Stokes said she had "no problem with them killing that man." "Not only did my mom and sister die, but my mother's only sister drank herself to death behind this. "My uncle is 67 years old. He's been waiting on this day."

McAlester News

"Board Says No Clemency for Convicted Killers," by Doug Russell. (April 1, 2003)

Two men scheduled to be executed in the next eight days don't deserve clemency, according to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. Board members unanimously voted Monday morning to deny clemency to 32-year-old Scott Allen Hain and voted 4-0 Monday afternoon to deny clemency to 43-year-old Don Wilson Hawkins Jr. Board chairman Patrick Morgan, a former Oklahoma County prosecutor, abstained from voting during Hawkins' hearing. Hain is scheduled to be executed Thursday. Hawkins' execution date is April 8.

Hain apologized to the families of Michael Houghton and Laura Lee Sanders then tried to shift the blame for their murders onto his codefendant, death row inmate Robert Lambert. "I come before you as a man, no longer the child sentenced to death by 12 strangers for being an unwitting accomplice to an individual who put his will upon me," Hain said. "However, even as the man I have become I find myself once again before strangers who hold the final power of the only things left to me in the world - my life and death."

Assistant Attorney General Robert Whittaker said he found it interesting that Hain's attorneys say Hain was a follower, that Lambert was primarily responsible for Sanders' and Houghton's deaths, because he was a juvenile seeking approval of an older man. Lambert's attorneys, on the other hand, say Hain was the leader because Lambert is slightly retarded, Whittaker said. Creek County District Attorney Max Cook's voice shook as he told the board many crime victims know the criminals who harm them but "These victims weren't involved with their killers. These victims were bright young people who had great plans for their futures and their punishment for being good kids was to be put in the trunk of a car that was then turned into an oven."

Prosecutors contend Hain and Lambert were on a four month crime spree across Oklahoma and Texas when they kidnapped Sanders and Houghton, locked them in the trunk of a car and set the car on fire.

Hawkins told board members he is not the same man he was 18 years ago when he kidnapped 29-year-old Linda Ann Thompson in 1985 and drowned her in Sportsman's Lake near Seminole. A co-defendant in the case, Dale Shelton, was sentenced to life without parole for his part in the crime. "I'm not trying to justify what I've done because I'm guilty," Hawkins said. "I put me here. I wasn't arrested in church." However, he said, since being in prison he has become a Christian and has been able to touch a number of lives, including the lives of many people on death row.

"Prison cells - the space and time - that doesn't change you," he said. "It allows you the chance to change. Only God can change you." Thompson's uncle, mother and brother asked the board to deny clemency. Hawkins "made a change in my life," said Charlie Schneider, Thompson's brother. "Memories are the only things I have of my sister. Please don't let the lasting memory be that clemency was granted."

Amnesty International

Amnesty International Urgent Action Appeal - Scott Allen Hain

18 February 2003 - USA (Oklahoma) Scott Allen Hain

Scott Hain (m), aged 32, is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma on 3 April 2003 for a double murder committed when he was 17 years old. International law, respected in almost every country in the world, prohibits the use of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime.

Scott Hain and Robert Lambert (see below) were sentenced to death at separate trials for the murders of Michael William Houghton, aged 27, and Laura Lee Sanders, aged 22, on 6 October 1987. The two victims had been kidnapped in Sanders' car, robbed, and forced into the vehicle's boot (trunk). The car was then set on fire. Scott Hain was sentenced to death in May 1988. In 1993, he was granted a new sentencing because of an error in the jury instructions at the original trial. He was eventually re-sentenced to death in 1994.

At the time of his arrest, Scott Hain's mother was under court-ordered treatment for alcoholism. His father was also a heavy drinker and spent little time at home. He allegedly used to physically abuse Scott, who was also sexually abused by a babysitter when he was about eight. His father introduced him to marijuana when he was nine or 10 years old. The boy's school record was poor, he had to repeat several grades, and he dropped out of school around the age of 13. From around that time, he began to get into trouble with the law and spent time in juvenile detention for property offences. He absconded on several occasions. During this time, he was involved in burglary and theft with his father. In July 1987, Scott Hain, now 17, absconded from a juvenile facility for the last time. For most of the next three months he lived on the streets, and increasingly resorted to alcohol and drugs, including crack cocaine. During this time he met Robert Lambert, who was four years older, and they became involved in crime in order to obtain drugs. Scott Hain had no record of violence up to this time.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Robert Lambert, who is still on death row, has a claim of mental retardation. He may therefore be protected by the 2002 US Supreme Court ruling, Atkins v Virginia, which found that the execution of people with mental retardation is unconstitutional. The Court found that such executions contravened "evolving standards of decency" in the USA, and that the disabilities of such offenders rendered the use of the death penalty against them disproportionate. The Court noted that the international community "overwhelmingly disapproved" of such executions.

Offenders who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes can still be subject to the death penalty in the USA under a 1989 Supreme Court decision, Stanford v Kentucky. However, the international condemnation referred to in the Atkins v Virginia decision is even clearer in relation to child offenders than it is for offenders with mental retardation. There is also all but equal evidence of a national "consensus" in the USA against both categories of execution under the criteria used by the Supreme Court. In addition, as with offenders with mental retardation, children have characteristics that similarly render the death penalty an excessive sanction against them. For example, young people are vulnerable to peer pressure and the domination of their elders, they are impulsive, immature, have poor judgment, and tend not to see the long-term consequences of their actions. In addition, the profile of the typical condemned teenager is not of a youngster from a stable, supportive background, but rather of a mentally impaired or emotionally disturbed adolescent emerging from a childhood of abuse, deprivation and poverty. For further information see USA: Indecent and internationally illegal: The death penalty against child offenders (AMR 51/143/2002, September 2002).

In October 2002, four of the nine Supreme Court Justices dissented from the Court's refusal to revisit its 1989 Stanford v Kentucky decision on young offenders: "There are no valid procedural objections to our reconsideration of the issue now, and, given our recent decision in Atkins v Virginia, we certainly should do so." The dissenters stated that the execution of people for crimes committed when they were under 18 years old was "a relic of the past... We should put an end to this shameful practice."

The imposition of the death penalty against people who were under 18 at the time of the crime is prohibited by international law, and has been roundly condemned by United Nations bodies and officials. The Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the American Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty, all have provisions exempting this age group from execution. In October 2002, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded: "The acceptance of this norm crosses political and ideological boundaries and efforts to detract from this standard have been vigorously condemned by members of the international community... [T]his proscription binds the community of States, including the United States".

Since 1990, the USA has executed 18 child offenders, compared to 14 such executions reported in the rest of the world combined. These 14 occurred in Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Yemen and Pakistan have now abolished such use of the death penalty in law. Oklahoma executed Sean Sellers in 1999, the first and so far only person to be put to death for a crime committed at 16 since the USA resumed executions in 1977 (the others were 17).

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in your own words:

- expressing sympathy for the family and friends of Michael William Houghton and Laura Lee Sanders, and explaining that you are not seeking to condone the manner of their deaths or the suffering caused;

- expressing concern that the State of Oklahoma intends to violate an unequivocal principle of international law by executing Scott Hain who was under 18 at the time of the crime;

- noting that four US Supreme Court Justices have described the execution of young offenders as a "shameful practice" which should be ended, particularly in light of Atkins v Virginia, a decision which may result in the death sentence of Scott Hain's co-defendant being overturned;

- noting that such executions have been roundly condemned across the world, and that Oklahoma will cause serious damage to its international reputation by carrying out this execution;

- urging the Governor to do all in his power and influence to stop this execution and to bring Oklahoma into line with global standards of justice and decency.

The International Justice Project

Case Summary

Scott Hain was 17 years of age at the time of his arrest for the October 6, 1987 murder of Michael Houghton and Laura Sanders. Because Hain was a juvenile - under 18 years of age at the time of his crime - his execution would be contrary to American standards of justice, fairness, and decency as well as international law. In opposing his execution, we do not, in any way, seek either to excuse the crime or to minimize the pain and suffering it caused the family and friends of the victim.

The Facts of the Case

Scott Hain and Robert Lambert were drinking in Tulsa, Oklahoma, looking for something to steal when they noticed Scott Haughton and Laura Sanders in a parking lot. Hain and Lambert then stole Haughton's car, taking Haughton and Sanders with them. They eventually stopped to rob the couple and placed them in the trunk of the car. Lambert then set fire to the car, killing both Haughton and Sanders. Hain was convicted of a capital felony murder charge.

Hain's Childhood ( Source: habeas petition dated July 3, 1998)

Scott Hain was born on June 2, 1970, in Tulsa, to Don Hain and Aleta Catron Hain. The Hains married in 1966, had a daughter, Shawn, in 1968, and had Scott two years later. Aleta Hain dropped out of school in the ninth grade and worked in a variety of jobs. A heavy drinker, Aleta Hain was, at the time of Hain's first trial, under court-ordered alcoholism treatment, having been arrested for driving under the influence three times in two years. Don Hain, a painter by profession, was also a very heavy drinker, and did not spend much time at home. Aleta Hain would prepare dinner for her husband - when he was home - and after dinner join him at a local bar. Hain and his sister Shawn fended for themselves. They did their homework by themselves and put themselves to bed.

Hain was held back in the first grade, an early sign of possible developmental difficulties. Problems at home grew. Hain reports that his father would hit him on the arms and legs with a wooden paddle. At about the time Hain was in the third grade, a sixteen year old babysitter sexually abused him and his sister. Hain was again held back in the fifth grade.

Don Hain introduced Hain to marijuana when he was nine or ten years of age. Two or three years later the family moved to Texas, in an attempt to escape debts. Hain began to smoke marijuana more regularly. Hain began to get in to more trouble, so leaving his family in Texas, he moved back to Tulsa to live with a family friend, Lou Mayfield.

While in Tulsa with Ms. Mayfield, Hain avoided trouble and stayed in school. Ms. Mayfield's influence was positive. Although the various records do not reflect the exact age at which Hain lived with Ms. Mayfield, it appears that he did so after leaving Texas at around age 12-13. Hain's family moved back to Tulsa about a year later, in approximately 1984, and Hain moved back in to the family home. It was at this juncture Hain began to get in to more serious trouble.

In May 1984, Hain was charged with grand larceny and knowingly concealing stolen property. He was adjudicated a delinquent and placed on probation. During the next year, when Hain was about 14-15 years old, he was often in the juvenile courts for various offenses such as trespassing, theft, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Placement in various juvenile facilities was attempted, but Hain often walked away. In September 1985 he was formally placed in the custody of the Department of Human Services, and a month later incarcerated at the Rader Treatment Center in Sand Springs (near Tulsa). Hain's progress at Rader was poor. In February 1987, Hain was absent without leave (AWOL) from Rader. While AWOL, Hain and his father were involved in a burglary. Although the burglary charges were dropped, Hain was returned to Rader for "treatment." He went absent without leave (AWOL) from Rader in March 1987, but was caught and returned. He then went AWOL again - for the last time - in July that same year. Hain went with his father to Kansas, where his father found work for Hain in a warehouse. Hain would steal items from the warehouse and give them to his father, who sold them in a bar across the street from where Hain and his father were living. Police questioned them about their activities, and they quickly returned to Oklahoma.

In the three months following Hain's final absence from Rader, he spent the majority of his time on the streets of Tulsa, taking drugs daily. Hain reportedly increased his daily usage of alcohol, crystal, crack, marijuana, and speed. He also admitted that he had used LSD, PCP, and barbiturates. It was during this time of living on the streets and daily chronic drug use that Hain met Robert Lambert and accompanied Lambert on the events that lead them both to death row. Until this crime, Hain had never been involved in an act of violence.

Executing Juvenile Offenders is Contrary to International Law

The execution of child offenders is in contravention of international law and fundamental standards of human rights. The ultimate goal of the international community is to abolish the death penalty under all circumstances, however, until that time there are restrictions on the categories of persons who can be executed, juveniles being one of the restricted categories. The prohibition of the execution of juveniles is referenced in a number of international treaties, declarations, and statements by international bodies, in addition to the laws of the majority of nations. Please refer to the International Instruments section, for more explanations of juvenile offenders and international law.

Juvenile Offenders: Issues of Mitigation

By their very nature, teenagers are less mature, and therefore less culpable than adults. Adolescence is a transitional period of life when cognitive abilities, emotions, judgment, impulse control, and identity are still developing. The IJP offers overviews on brain development and trauma as possible mitigation factors for juvenile offenders.

Letters Asking for Clemency

March 3, 2003 - The Government of Mexico has sent letters to both Governor Henry and the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board requesting clemency

Government of Switzerland - letter asking for clemency on February 20, 2003, signed by Ambassador of Switzerland, Christian Blickenstorfer

February 26, 2003 - The European Union has issued a demarche asking both Governor Henry and the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to grant Scott Hain clemency

February 27, 2003 - Council of Europe letter asking for clemency.

Briefs, Petitions, Etc.

Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus - Trial Level

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court (Habeus Corpus)

For other briefs involving other juveniles click here .

News

April 3, 2003 - Oklahoma executed Scott Hain. He died approximately two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a stay. Hain was pronounced dead at 8:39 p.m. CST

April 3, 2003 - The U.S. Supreme Court has lifted the stay of execution granted by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

April 3, 2003 - The 10th Circuit, sitting en banc (with two judges recusing), voted 7-2 to keep the stay of execution in place. The U.S. Supreme Court can still overturn the stay.

April 2, 2003 - The Tenth Circuit entered a stay of execution for Scott Allen Hain. The panel denied panel rehearing, but stayed the execution to allow the full court time to vote on the pending petition for en banc review. Click here to read the Tenth Circuit's order.

April 1, 2003 - The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Scott Allen Hain's second application for post-conviction relief.

March 31, 2003 - The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Hain's clemency petition. The vote is a non-binding recommendation to Governor Henry.

March 26, 2003 - The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in Hain's collateral appeal, that death row inmates are not entitled to have federally appointed and funded lawyers represent them in state clemency proceedings. This ruling means that Hain will essentially be unrepresented at his clemency hearing. His hearing is scheduled for Monday.

January 31, 2003 - Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals set execution date for April 3, 2003.

January 27, 2003 - Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, requested that an execution date be set for Scott Hain.

January 27, 2003 - U.S. Supreme Court denies Hain's cert petition.

Amnesty International: US: More double standards as another child offender set to be executed.

Oklahoma executes man who killed when he was 17

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (Reuters) -- Oklahoma Thursday executed a man who robbed and burned to death two restaurant workers when he was 17 in a case that raised questions about implementing capital punishment for a crime committed by a minor. Scott Allen Hain, 32, died at 8:35 p.m., four minutes after prison officials injected him with a lethal cocktail of poisons to stop his heart and breathing. He had no final statement. Hours before Hain was put to death, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a stay on the execution that had been issued by a federal appeals court in Denver Wednesday. The case drew international attention because Hain was 17 at the time of the murder and raised questions about implementing the death penalty for crimes committed by minors. The United States is one of a handful of nations that has executed juvenile offenders in the past five years.

Hain was executed for the 1987 double murder of Michael William Houghton and Laura Lee Sanders. Hain and an accomplice, Robert Wayne Lambert, then 21, abducted the two outside a Tulsa bar, robbed them of $565, then locked the couple in the trunk of a car and burned them alive. Police said Hain and Lambert left the victims to burn to death in a car and then returned to the scene to inspect the charred corpses of their victims. Both were given the death penalty in the case. Lambert has not yet been executed. Hain's last requested meal was cheeseburgers, onion rings and ice cream. "Given Hain's age at the time of the crime, his execution would be contrary to American standards of justice, fairness and decency, which punish according to the degree of culpability and reserve the death penalty for the 'worst of the worst' offenders," the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma said in a statement. The group was backing life in prison as a punishment for Hain. The decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the stay indicates that the body will not likely consider banning executions in certain cases on the basis that the offenders were juveniles at the time they committed crimes, court watchers said. About 17 family members and friends of the victim were present for the execution.

Condemned man gets last-minute delay

A divided appeals court in Denver on Wednesday postponed tonight's scheduled execution of Scott Allen Hain for the 1987 slayings of two Tulsa restaurant workers.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in an unusual after-hours decision, said Hain's execution will be stayed while the court considers his latest appeal. The judges split 2-1. In his appeal, Hain seeks federal funds to pay his lawyers for preparing his case for a second clemency hearing.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Monday denied Hain's request for clemency. His lawyer, Steven Presson, appeared at the hearing with Hain, but Presson said he could not present a credible case for clemency because he hadn't been able to prepare it because of lack of funds.

"If Hain would ultimately prevail in this appeal, it remains possible that he could persuade the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to reconsider its decision and/or grant him a new clemency hearing," judges Mary Beck Briscoe of Lawrence, Kan., and Carlos Lucero of Denver wrote in a six-page decision.

In his dissent, judge Michael Murphy of Salt Lake City wrote, "There is simply nothing in the record before this court demonstrating any realistic possibility that Hain could ever obtain a second clemency hearing." He called the majority's position that the state board might give Hain a second clemency hearing "wild speculation."

Said Charlie Price, a spokesman for state Attorney General Drew Edmondson, "Obviously we are very disappointed that the stay was issued and we will continue to research our legal options to try to find a way to vacate the stay. This is just cruel for the families of the victims to have to go through this and we will do everything we can to see justice is done in this case."

Hain, 32, was convicted of robbing and murdering Michael Houghton, 27, and Laura Lee Sanders, 22, in 1987. Hain was 17 at the time. Hain and accomplice Robert Lambert stuffed the victims into the trunk of a car, then lit the car on fire, prosecutors said. Both defendants were sentenced to die. Lambert has not been executed.

The issue of executing juvenile offenders came up during Hain's clemency hearing Monday. Presson argued that the United States is one of few nations worldwide that execute juvenile offenders. Amnesty International and other anti-death penalty groups have assailed Hain's planned execution as a violation of international law.

But in Hain's case, the issue isn't that simple, state Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Miller said. Hain has a criminal history that dates back to his early teens. He was implicated in several rapes and assaults in Kansas and Tulsa, although he wasn't prosecuted for those crimes. The slayings of Houghton and Sanders were particularly galling, Miller said. Hain and Lambert robbed their victims of $565, then waited as their victims burned in the trunk of Sanders' car, prosecutors said. Transcripts from a police interview with Hain indicated that he and Lambert could hear their pleas to be set free and their attempts to break out of the trunk as the car burned. They left, then later returned to make sure the car was still burning, prosecutors said.

"When a person looks at his age and the facts of this case, I just don't think it would make a difference," Miller said. "Just like with the jury. They knew he was 17, and they saw how heinous the crime was."

Hain will be the second juvenile offender executed in Oklahoma. Sean Sellers, executed at age 29 in 1999, was 16 when he killed three people in 1985 and 1986.

A recent poll, meanwhile, showed that two-thirds of Oklahomans surveyed would support legislation banning the execution of people who committed crimes when they were juveniles. The poll showed that 62.8 percent of those surveyed would favor legislation that banned executing juvenile offenders if a life-without-parole sentence were offered as an alternative. Twenty-five percent of those polled said they would oppose such legislation. University of Oklahoma pollsters interviewed 400 people between March 17 and March 27. The poll has a 5 percent margin of error. Susan Sharp, a sociology professor at OU, said the poll's results were unexpected. "Oklahomans are pretty tough on crime," she said.

(source: The Oklahoman)

Man loses bid to stop execution

A man scheduled to be executed Thursday for the 1987 burning death of a Tulsa couple lost another appeal Tuesday to delay his execution. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Scott Allen Hain's second application for post- conviction relief. The court last week turned down Hain's request for a stay of execution. Hain then filed for another stay. Monday, the state Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency for Hain.

Hain and Robert Wayne Lambert were convicted of killing Michael William Houghton and Laura Lee Sanders. They were restaurant workers who were abducted outside a Tulsa bar in 1987. They were robbed, put in the trunk of Sanders' car and taken to a secluded site in Creek County. The car was set on fire, burning the couple to death. Hain was 17 when the crime occurred.

The Court of Criminal Appeals said Tuesday that Hain's latest request for post-conviction relief claimed that standards have evolved among the states to the degree that the execution of a person who was 17 or younger at the time the offense was committed constitutes unusual punishment and is prohibited by the Oklahoma Constitution. The appellate court said Hain argued that a national consensus against juvenile executions has emerged since the Court of Criminal Appeals considered his first post- conviction application. The court said Hain argued that this claim couldn't have been brought in his original application because there was not sufficient data to allow the Court of Criminal Appeals to conclude the execution of juveniles was cruel or unusual punishment.

Hain failed to show the factual basis of his claim has been previously unavailable, the court said. He hasn't cited case law from the U.S. Supreme Court or the Court of Criminal Appeals in support of the argument, the court said. "Further, the crux of (Hain's) argument is that he should not be subject to execution due to his young age at the time of the commission of the offense," the court said. "This argument was raised, thoroughly considered and rejected by this court on direct appeal."

(source: The Oklahoman)

Clemency denied for inmate

McALESTER (AP) -- The state Pardon and Parole Board voted Monday not recommend clemency for Oklahoma death row inmate Scott Allen Hain. The board voted 5-to-0 against recommending clemency. Hain is to be put to death Thursday for the 1987 deaths of Michael Houghton and Laura Lee Sanders. Houghton and Sanders were abducted and robbed outside a Tulsa bar then forced into the trunk of Sanders' car. The car was taken to Creek County and set on fire. Various groups have asked Gov. Henry to commute Hain's sentence to life in prison because he was 17 at the time of the crime.

Inmates on death row lose lawyer funding

In Denver, a divided appeals court ruled Wednesday that death row inmates are not entitled to have federally appointed and funded lawyers represent them in state clemency proceedings. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in the case of Oklahoma inmate Scott Allen Hain, who is scheduled to be executed April 3 for the 1987 killings of 2 Tulsa restaurant workers. The ruling applies to all 6 states making up the 10th Circuit.

Hain has a state clemency hearing scheduled for Monday. "He's completely unrepresented by counsel," one of Hain's federal court lawyers said regarding the state proceeding. The attorney, Steve Presson, speaking from his office in Norman, said Hain "is essentially on his own" at the clemency board.

Presson and co-counsel Robert Jackson had sought a ruling that federal courts, which are paying them to represent Hain in his federal court proceedings in Tulsa and Denver, were obligated under federal law to represent him in the state proceeding at federal expense. The lawyers argued the obligation existed because Hain had been denied relief in federal courts and the state proceeding was his next step.

On Friday, the appeals court denied Hain's emergency request to postpone his execution pending the outcome of the appeal decided Wednesday.

Presson said he, perhaps as early as today, will petition the 11 full-time 10th Circuit judges to reconsider Wednesday's decision of a three-judge panel. The court rarely agrees to reconsider decisions, but the chances are somewhat improved when, as in Hain's case, 1 judge dissented.

Oklahoma Assistant Attorney General Robert Whittaker, who is battling Hain's efforts to avoid execution, said "the appeal to obtain money (for the defense lawyers) was legitimate." But Whittaker said the earlier attempt to stay the execution pending the appeal "takes on the appearance of a delay tactic" because the appeal did not challenge the conviction or the sentence.

Hain, then 17, was convicted of murdering Michael Houghton, 27, and Laura Lee Sanders, 21, after abducting them from the Brookside Bar parking lot.

Hain execution set for April 3

2003-01-31 By The Associated Press

Oklahoma death row inmate Scott Allen Hain was scheduled to be executed on April 3 by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Friday. Hain, 32, was sentenced to death in Creek County for the Oct. 6, 1987, murders of Michael William Houghton, 27, and Laura Lee Sanders, 22.

Hain was 17 when he and an older friend, co-defendant Robert Wayne Lambert, kidnapped the couple from a Tulsa nightspot and robbed Houghton before placing them in the trunk of Sanders' car. They drove the car to a rural area and burned it with Houghton and Sanders still in the trunk. Lambert was also sentenced to death and his appeal is pending.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson requested Hain's execution date on Monday after his final appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorneys for Hain had asked the high court to set the minimum age for imposing the death penalty at 18 at the time the crime was committed.

Court Refuses Juvenile Execution Case By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an Oklahoma appeal that death penalty opponents considered their best hope of reopening a high court examination of juvenile executions. The action, taken without comment, seemed to put off for now speculation that the justices would soon bar states from executing juvenile death row inmates.

Only a handful of states have put to death people who committed their crimes when they were under 18, a politically charged practice in America and internationally. Last fall, four of the nine justices complained that executing young killers violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and is a ``shameful practice.''

``The practice of executing such offenders is a relic of the past and is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in a civilized society,'' Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in October in an opinion, joined by Justices David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. The four justices, the more liberal wing of the court, had the votes to force their colleagues to hear arguments in the Oklahoma case. But, by refusing to do that, the justices signaled that there is no fifth vote to strike down juvenile executions. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate conservative, is considered a crucial swing vote.

The Supreme Court has allowed the death penalty to be imposed on killers who were 16 or 17 at the time of their crimes. Lawyers for Oklahoma inmate Scott Allen Hain said the minimum age should be raised to 18. ``While they appear to be fully-grown physically and may seem to be functioning as adults, their judgment and impulse-control are simply not that of adults,'' attorney Steven Presson told justices in filings.

Hain was 17 when he and an older friend abducted and killed a young couple in 1987. They locked the victims in their car trunk and set it afire. Oklahoma assistant attorney general Robert Whittaker told justices that violent crime by juveniles has been increasing, and states need tools to punish the offenders. ``Homicidal crimes by juveniles have continued to confront the American public, from the school shootings in Columbine to the Washington Beltway snipers,'' he wrote in court papers.

Whittaker said charges against a 17-year-old in the sniper case ``may well be a catalyst for further national debate and legislative activity.'' He also said that there was no public outrage over the decision to put Lee Boyd Malvo on trial in Virginia, where he could receive the death penalty, instead of others states like Maryland that do not execute 17-year-olds. Malvo and an older man who treated him like a son have been linked to 19 shootings, including 13 deaths, in Maryland, Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court has limited executions. Most recently, the justices abolished executions for the mentally retarded last summer. ``Both juvenile and mentally retarded offenders have `the mind of a child,' albeit often in the body of an adult,'' Presson said. The case is Hain v. Mullin, 02-6438.

Hain v. Gibson (Habeas February 20, 2002)

SCOTT ALLEN HAIN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. GARY E. GIBSON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee. No. 01-5014 SCOTT ALLEN HAIN, Petitioner-Appellant, v. GARY E. GIBSON, Warden, Respondent-Appellee

Appeal from United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma

BRISCOE, Circuit Judge

Petitioner Scott Allen Hain, an Oklahoma state prisoner sentenced to death for two counts of first degree murder, appeals the district court's denial of his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

I.

The following is a summary of the facts as set forth by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) in disposing of Hain's initial direct appeal:

During the early morning hours of October 6, 1987, Laura Lee Sanders and Michael Houghton were seated in Sanders' car outside a Tulsa bar when they were approached by two men, later determined to be Scott Allen Hain and Robert Wayne Lambert. Hain and Lambert were in the parking lot, waiting to rob a nearby house when they saw Sanders and Houghton talking in the car. Appellant and Lambert forced their way into the car by threatening Houghton with a knife.

Hain drove the car away from the bar, then stopped and robbed Houghton at gunpoint. When Houghton resisted the robbery, Appellant forced him into the trunk of the car. A short while later, Appellant and Lambert stopped and put Sanders in the trunk as well.

After robbing Houghton and getting the keys to his truck, the two men decided to go back to the bar where the incident began and take Houghton's truck as well as Sanders car. Lambert drove the truck away from Tulsa toward Sand Springs. He stopped after driving down a rural Creek County roadway. Appellant followed in Sanders' car with Sanders and Houghton in the trunk.

The two men took Sanders' things, including some clothes, out of her car and put them in the truck. One of them cut the gas line to the car and set it on fire by putting lighted newspaper and a blanket under the dripping fuel line. Houghton and Sanders were banging on the trunk and yelling. Appellant and Lambert left the area, however, returned a short time later to see if the fire was burning well.

The two men stopped at a friend's house in Jennings and left a bag of things belonging to the victims in the garage. They traveled to Wichita, Kansas in Houghton's truck. After spending the five hundred and sixty-five ($565.00) dollars which they got from Houghton and Sanders, the two returned to Tulsa, where they were apprehended on the evening of October 9, 1987.

On October 13, 1987, Hain was charged by complaint and information in the District Court of Creek County, Oklahoma, with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery with firearms, one count of arson in the third degree, and two counts of larceny of an automobile. The State subsequently filed a bill of particulars alleging the existence of three aggravating factors: (1) that Hain knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person; (2) that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel; and (3) the existence of a probability that Hain would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.

The case proceeded to trial in May 1988. At the conclusion of the first-stage proceedings, the jury found Hain guilty as charged. At the conclusion of the second-stage proceedings, the jury, having found the existence of all three aggravating factors alleged by the prosecution, sentenced Hain to death on both of the first degree murder counts. The jury also sentenced Hain to ten years on each kidnapping count, one hundred years on each robbery with firearms count, twenty years on each larceny of an automobile count, and fifteen years on the third degree arson count.

On direct appeal, the OCCA affirmed Hain's convictions for murder, kidnapping, larceny of an automobile, and third degree arson. Hain I, 852 P.2d at 753. Because of the possibility that the jury convicted Hain under a theory of felony murder, the OCCA reversed on double jeopardy grounds Hain's convictions for robbery with firearms. Id. at 752. Lastly, because the trial court failed to instruct the jury with respect to the potential punishment alternative of life without parole, the OCCA vacated Hain's death sentences and remanded for new sentencing proceedings. Id. at 753.

The resentencing proceedings commenced on September 22, 1994. The prosecution alleged the existence of the same three aggravating factors alleged in the original second stage proceedings, i.e., that Hain knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person, that the murders were especially heinous, atrocious or cruel, and the existence of a probability that Hain would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society. To establish the first two factors, the prosecution presented evidence outlining the nature of the murders. To support the third factor, the prosecution presented evidence indicating that Hain and his co-defendant Lambert had engaged in three violent crimes in the months leading up to the murders (the assault and rape of a woman in her rural Kansas home, the kidnapping and rape of a Wichita woman, and the robbery and attempted murder of a Tulsa couple, which included the kidnapping and rape of the woman). In addition, the prosecution presented expert psychiatric testimony indicating that Hain's personality and psychological make-up made him prone to violence. Lastly, the prosecution presented evidence indicating that Hain had escaped from his jail cell while awaiting resentencing.

Hain attempted to counter the prosecution's evidence by presenting expert testimony from two psychologists and a social worker, all of whom opined that Hain was not prone to violence. In addition, Hain alleged and attempted to prove the following mitigating circumstances: (1) his youth at the time of the crime; (2) his emotional, psychological and mental age; (3) his blameworthiness; (4) the fact that he was dominated by Lambert, his co-defendant; (5) his history of drug usage; (6) the State of Oklahoma's failure to provide appropriate treatment at earlier stages of his development; (7) a "[f]ear reaction to finding himself in a fugitive/captive situation"; (8) the lack of personal participation in the actual criminal acts (in comparison to the alleged participation of his co-defendant); (9) his attempts to physically absent himself from the scene of the crime as much as possible; (10) the lack of violence involved in his alleged escape attempt from jail; (11) his attained educational level; and (12) his family history. State Record, Vol. 2 at 182 (resentencing proposed instr. No. 16). At the conclusion of the resentencing proceedings, the jury found, with respect to both murder counts, the existence of all three aggravating factors alleged by the prosecution and Hain was sentenced to death on both counts.

Following his resentencing, Hain again filed a direct appeal with the OCCA. The OCCA affirmed Hain's death sentences. Hain v. State, 919 P.2d 1130 (Okla. Crim. App. 1996) (Hain II). Hain filed a petition for writ of certiorari which was denied by the Supreme Court. Hain v. Oklahoma, 519 U.S. 1031 (1996). Hain filed an application for post-conviction relief and the OCCA denied relief on May 1, 1998. Hain v. State, 962 P.2d 649 (Okla. Crim. App. 1998) (Hain III).

On July 30, 1998, Hain filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus asserting fourteen grounds for relief, and the district court subsequently authorized Hain's counsel to add an additional claim to the petition. The district court denied Hain's petition on December 18, 2000. The district court granted Hain a certificate of appealability (COA) with respect to three of the issues raised in his habeas petition: (1) the propriety of the trial court's decision to instruct on alternative theories of malice aforethought and felony murder; (2) ineffective assistance of counsel; and (3) whether the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibited the execution of juveniles. This court granted a COA on two additional issues: whether the trial court erred in admitting victim impact testimony and whether the trial court violated Hain's right against self-incrimination by ordering him to answer the prosecutor's questions about unadjudicated crimes that occurred in the State of Kansas.

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Admission of victim impact testimony

Hain contends the admission of victim impact testimony during the resentencing proceedings "was so far out of permissible constitutional bounds . . . as to deprive him of a fair sentencing hearing and due process of law." Hain's Opening Br. at 33. To properly address Hain's contention, we begin by reviewing the relevant events that transpired during the sentencing proceedings.

Prior to trial, five of the victims' family members prepared written victim impact statements. Those statements were reviewed and redacted in part by the prosecution and the trial court. During the resentencing proceedings, the prosecution, over the objection of defense counsel, presented each of the five family members and had them read their redacted statements to the jury.

William Sanders, the brother of victim Laura Lee Sanders, testified in pertinent part:

The extremely violent nature of this crime and the total lack of respect for human life have shocked ­ shocked me. Absolutely everyone is brought up knowing the difference between right and wrong, and murder is wrong. Once a crime of this magnitude has been com ­ committed, a person must expect to be punished to the fullest ­ full extent of the law. Life, life without [parole], and death; these are the choices? All I can say for sure is that I know my sister was not given a choice between life or death. It has been seven years since my sister was murdered, and I'm still looking forward to the time when I can remember who she was and not the horrific images portrayed of her during these ­ during the various court proceedings.

The guilt has been established, and I feel strongly that the punishment should reflect the severity of the crime. It is very difficult for me to find words to express the horror, anger and disbelief that we felt and still feel, knowing that Laura Lee was put in the trunk of a car and burned alive while the ones who lit the fire listened to their screams for help, and yet only made sure that the car was burning good before they left. Add to that the fact that Laura Lee and Mike had done nothing to deserve this and had no idea who the people were that took it upon themselves to murder them. It is hard for us to imagine that anyone could have that much hate and meanness in them. These things make it even more difficult for us to accept her death.

In the past seven years, we have been trying to deal with not only the loss of Laura Lee, but also with the heinous manner in which she was murdered. We know how very scared she must have been from the time she was kidnapped and put in the trunk of her car. It hurts every time I think of the horror that she must have felt during her last minutes on this earth with the smell of gasoline, followed by the smoke, and then the heat of the flames, and having no way to escape. Every time I see a picture of a burning car on television or in a movie, it feels like someone has just kicked me in the stomach.

Several months ago, I had to have both of our dogs put to sleep. As I held them while the doctor gave them a shot, I saw them die very peacefully in my arms. I couldn't help but think of Laura Lee and Mike again and wish that they had been able to die that peacefully. In order for true justice to be done in this case, I feel that Scott Hain should also be sentenced to death. Somebody with his mind-set should not be allowed to get off with anything less than the death penalty. There is absolutely no reason why anyone else should ever be subjected to his heinous acts of violence and to go through the pain and suffering that our families have had to endure for the past seven years.

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The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Hain v. State, 962 P.2d 649 (Okla. Crim. App. 1998). (PCR)

Petitioner Scott Allen Hain was convicted of two counts of First Degree Murder (21 O.S.1981, § 701.7), two counts of Kidnapping (21 O.S.1981, § 741) two counts of Robbery with a Firearm (21 O.S.1981, § 801) , one count of Third Degree Arson (21 O.S.1981, § 1403) and two counts of Larceny of an Automobile (21 O.S.1981, § 1720) , Case No. CRF-87-240, in the District Court of Creek County. The jury found the existence of three aggravating circumstances and recommended the punishment of death for each murder conviction. In Hain v. State, 852 P.2d 744 (Okl.Cr.1993), this Court reversed with instructions to dismiss the conviction for Robbery with Firearms and affirmed all other convictions. The death sentences imposed for the murder convictions were vacated and the case was remanded to the District Court for new second-stage proceedings. In the retrial of the sentencing stage, the jury found the existence of three aggravating circumstances and recommended the punishment of death for each count of murder. This Court affirmed the death sentences in Hain v. State, 919 P.2d 1130 (Okl.Cr.1996) Petitioner filed his Original Application for Post-Conviction Relief in this Court on September 10, 1997.