On November 12, 2026, the day after Veterans’ Day, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office is seeking to execute Jim Pavatt, a decorated 21-year Air Force veteran and former Baptist deacon, despite no credible evidence that he killed anyone or was even present at the crime scene, and despite prosecutors who lied to jurors in order to win his conviction and death sentence.
Unless the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and Governor Stitt grant Jim’s request for clemency, Jim will be executed on November 12, 2026 by the State and the Country that he honorably served.
No credible evidence establishes that Jim ever killed anyone.
Jim has long maintained his innocence. To this day, the State of Oklahoma has never been able to conclusively prove that he shot and killed victim Rob Andrew.
According to the trial prosecutors who put Jim on death row, the police investigation was “a bang up, whale-of-a-good-job” that produced an “8,000 page” paper trail. Despite the mountain of evidence in this case, not a single hair, fingerprint, blood or saliva sample, clothing fiber, or eyewitness even placed Jim at the crime scene.
Jim was convicted in part on discredited “bullet lead” analysis.
Trial prosecutors also manufactured evidence
against Jim where none existed.
Prosecutors ignored a pre-trial report from a highly-touted FBI expert concluding that a bullet found in a car linked to Jim didn’t match projectiles recovered from the crime scene.
Prosecutors misled the jury into believing there was a “match” between the crime scene projectiles and the bullet found in a car linked to Jim.
Despite knowing that Jim’s supposed “confession” was “concocted” and “bogus,” prosecutors used it to win his conviction and death sentence.
The same prosecutors who put Jim on death row later insisted at his co-defendant Brenda Andrew’s separate trial that she alone fatally shot her husband Rob Andrew.
“[T]he evidence is clear, I submit to you, that Brenda Andrew was the one who actually shot Rob Andrew and killed him. . . .”— Trial prosecutor, Brenda Andrew’s trial
“[A]s [Rob Andrew] is on the floor realizing what is happening to him and realizing that all the people are right, he turns to look at [Brenda] one last time. And this time, cause the blood spatter shows you, he saw her face over the barrel of a shotgun.” — Trial prosecutor, Brenda Andrew’s trial
Brenda Andrew was found at the crime scene.
“. . . the night before the murder Andrew had called a friend just to say, ‘I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.’ Tr. 2662 -2663 (July 1, 2004). The friend recalled that the comment ‘made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She hated that man.’ Id., at 2664.”
–U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, writing in dissent in Andrew v. White, 604 U.S. 86, 101 (2025)
After winning Jim’s death sentence, trial prosecutors argued and presented evidence at Brenda’s separate trial that:
Brenda “actually hated” her husband Rob Andrew, couldn’t stand to be around him, and told Mr. Andrew’s co-worker prior to the killing that she “would see him dead.” (Andrew Tr. 06/18/04 at 250, 06/21/04 at 607.)
Rob Andrew had “expressed concerns about Brenda Andrew trying to kill him” to his pastor, and didn’t feel safe even “spending one night in his home.” (Andrew Tr. 06/18/04 at 233.)
Expert testimony and objective crime scene evidence refuted Brenda’s story that an unknown intruder shot and killed Rob Andrew.
“There is no better example of how a weak judicial system was overpowered by a powerful and malicious district attorney than that of Cowboy Bob Macy and the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.”
–Professor Ryan Patrick Alford
Jim was capitally prosecuted in the immediate aftermath of Bob Macy’s notorious era in Oklahoma County by prosecutors who carried on Macy’s tradition of misconduct, including in Jim’s very case.
The trial prosecutors won Jim’s conviction and death sentence through lies that went to the core of their case for the death penalty.
Prosecutors lied to Jim’s jury when they argued he had written a confession letter. They knew before Jim’s trial that the letter was considered a “concoction.”
After winning Jim’s death sentence based in part on his supposed “confession,” the same prosecutors turned around and argued at Brenda Andrew’s later trial that Jim’s confession was “bogus.”
Prosecutors lied to Jim’s jury when they argued that Jim could have been the shooter. After winning Jim’s death sentence, the same prosecutors argued at Brenda Andrew’s trial just months later that “the evidence is clear” that Brenda Andrew “was the one who actually shot Rob Andrew and killed him.”
In fact, one of the prosecutors told Brenda Andrew’s jury that the last thing Rob Andrew saw before he was killed was “her face over the barrel of a shotgun.”
Prosecutors lied to Jim’s jury when they argued that there was a “match” between a bullet found in a car Jim borrowed the night Rob Andrew was killed and firearms evidence found at the crime scene.
Prosecutors ignored a pre-trial report they received from an FBI forensic expert which concluded that there was no match at all.
Jim’s jury never heard evidence that:
Another person confessed to killing Rob Andrew.
The prosecution’s use of bullet lead comparison evidence was junk science.
Prior to his arrest, Jim had admirably served his Country, Church, and Community.
Jim’s service to his Country, Church, and Community.
Before this case, Jim had never even been arrested.
Jim chose to volunteer for the Air Force in 1974, just after the Vietnam War and at a time when American opinion of the military was at a historic low point.
Jim had a distinguished, 21-year military career and rose to the rank of Master Sergeant where he commanded upwards of 400 U.S. troops at a time.
During Jim’s long military service to his Country, he was awarded numerous medals including the Meritorious Service Medal, praised by his superiors, and in the top 1% of all sergeants.
Jim received numerous awards for Honorable Service to his Country.
12 FEB 1975
Subject: Airman of the Quarter, October - December 1974
To: AIC James D. Pavatt
Det. 2, 19 Bomb Wg (SAC)
Columbus AFB, MS 39701
1. It is with a great deal of pleasure that I inform you that you
have been selected as Airman of the Quarter for the period October -
December 1974.
2. I wish to extend my personal contratulations to you for winning
this distinct honor. Your oustanding devotion to duty, exemplary
conduct and complete observance of Air Force customs and courtesies
are the factors upon which you were selected. You should regard this
selection as an esteemed token of recognition. It is only with men
of your fine caliber that the Air Force can be assured of performing
its mission of national defense.
3. A copy of this letter has been forwarded to your supervisor for
his consideration in your next Airman Performance Report. Again, I
offer you my hearty congratulations and urge you to keep up the fine
work.
J.S. Creedon, Colonel, USAF
Commander
“At that time, Jesus said, . . . Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
(Matthew 11:25-30)
Jim has been a lifelong, devout Christian. Prior to his arrest, he served as a Sunday school teacher and as a Deacon in the Baptist Church.
Over the last 25 years, Jim has continued to carry the yoke of Christian ministry from the confines of death row, tithing, sharing the Gospel with other condemned men who struggle to find Hope in their circumstances, and advocating for group religious services on death row with the Department of Corrections.
Jim Pavatt has been a model inmate since his incarceration.
Jim has demonstrated perfect behavior throughout his 25-year incarceration.
Over decades, he hasn’t received even a single write up for misconduct.
Prison officials have long trusted Jim to work as a law clerk where he has helped incarcerated people research legal issues in their cases.
What You Can Do to Stop Jim’s Execution:
At a clemency hearing scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 9 a.m. CT, Jim will be asking the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to recommend that Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.
Write to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and urge them to recommend clemency for Jim.
Write to the Honorable Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and urge him to spare Jim’s life by commuting Jim’s death sentence to life in prison:
Justice for Jim 