James Pavatt Set for 10 A.M. Execution as Supreme Court Stay Request Awaits Ruling

James Dwight Pavatt is scheduled to be executed in Oklahoma at 10 a.m. CST on Thursday, Nov. 12, with a request to halt the execution before the U.S. Supreme Court. As of 6:58 a.m. CST, the court’s stay docket listed his application, Oklahoma’s response and his reply, but no order. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections still listed Nov. 12 as his execution date.

The stay request could determine whether Pavatt’s death sentence for the murder of Rob Andrew is carried out on schedule. An Aug. 27 order set Thursday’s date. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency in October, according to the state attorney general’s office.

In a Nov. 9 petition, Pavatt argues that a later state account allowing for multiple possible shooters undercuts how prosecutors portrayed his role at sentencing. Oklahoma opposed a stay. The state appellate court denied Pavatt’s latest post-conviction application Nov. 6, according to a ruling included with his petition; that denial is separate from the Supreme Court stay request.

How a life policy figured in the case

In its 2007 opinion, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals said Pavatt, then a life-insurance agent, helped Andrew arrange a policy worth approximately $800,000. The opinion describes evidence of an attempted ownership change using a forged signature and upholds the jury’s finding of a remuneration-related sentencing aggravator. The $800,000 figure is the policy’s approximate value, not an established payout.