Oklahoma Death Row Inmate Waives Clemency Hearing

An Oklahoma death row inmate scheduled to be executed on March 12th has waived his right to ask the state Pardon and Parole Board for clemency.

Steven Thacker was convicted in the December 23, 1999, kidnapping, rape and murder of 25-year-old Laci Hill.  Hill was kidnapped and murdered after she and her husband placed an ad to sell a pool table.  He pleaded guilty and received the death penalty after a sentencing hearing.

Thacker can ask the board to commute his death sentence to life in prison, but Pardon and Parole Board attorney Tracy George told The Associated Press by email Wednesday that the 42-year-old Thacker waived his February 22nd clemency hearing.

Thacker was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man in Missouri and given the death sentence for a Tennessee murder.

He was returned to Oklahoma from a Tennessee prison earlier this month.

2/15/2013 Related Story: Hearing Set For Man Sentenced To Die In Murder Of Bixby Woman

The Associated Press contributed to this story.