Oklahoma death certificate

A woman convicted of killing a childhood friend and later murdering her lesbian lover was recently executed in the state of Oklahoma, becoming the first Black woman executed in the U.S. since 1954.

Wanda Jean Allen, 41, was pronounced dead after receiving a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a supporter of the death penalty, cleared the way for the execution by denying a late request for a 30-day stay. A federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court also denied last minute appeals.

Rev. Jesse Jackson and Attorney General Drew Edmonds met with Keating before he made his final decision in hopes of sparing Allen's life. "The power is in his hands," Jackson said.

Jackson and two dozen other peaceful protesters were arrested for trespassing outside Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in Oklahoma City, the prison where Allen was being held.

Allen's request for a stay was based on the narrow issue of whether the state parole board knew enough about her mental health. Allen's attorney, Steve Presson, argued that Allen did not receive a fair clemency hearing because the state misled the board with regard to Allen's education. It had been pointed out that Allen had a low score of 69 on an IQ test she took when she was 15 years old, suggesting she was retarded.

Prosecutors argued at a recent clemency hearing that Allen had graduated from high school and received a medical assistant certificate from Rose State College. Allen, however, dropped out of high school at age 16 and never finished courses in the medical program.

In 1981, Allen fatally shot childhood friend Detra Pettus during an argument, and spent two years in prison. Seven years later, she killed her girlfriend, Gloria Jean Leathers, 29, whom she met while both were in prison.

The day Leathers died in December of 1988, the two were arguing in a grocery store. A witness said that Allen threatened to kill Leathers.

Leathers and her mother, Ruby Wilson, went to the police station to file a complaint against Allen, who had followed them to the authorities, prosecutors said. Leathers was shot in the abdomen by her lover as she left the car. She died from her injury four days later.

Prior to Allen's execution, she said she cared for Leathers and "loved her as a person."

Wilson has said that she doesn't hate Allen but hates what she did. After a meeting with Alien she said, "I will never forget it. I will always see it. That is in the past. I have to go on toward the future."

During a press conference at the state prison, other family members of the victim said that the death of Allen brought them closure.

"We're the victims, not Wanda Jean," said Leathers' daughter, LaTonya Leathers, following Allen's execution. "We are the victims and justice has been served."

Allen was the first Black woman executed in Oklahoma since 1903. She was the sixth woman to be executed in this country since executions resumed in 1977 and the first Black woman executed here since 1954.

While lying on the execution gurney, Allen raised her head and smiled. With a tear in the corner of her eye she said, "Father forgive them. They know not what they do."