Oklahoma executed a man convicted of killing a 3-year-old in 1993

Oklahoma executed a man on Thursday for the torture slaying of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son in 1993.

Richard Stephen Fairchild, who turned 63 on Thursday, received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Fairchild, an ex-Marine, was convicted of killing Adam Broomhall after the child wet the bed. Prosecutors say Fairchild held both sides of his body against a scorching furnace, then threw him into a table. The child never regained consciousness and died later that day.

“The method of Adam’s murder can only be described as torture,” prosecutors from the Oklahoma attorney general’s office wrote to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board, which voted 4-1 last month against recommending clemency for Fairchild. Attorneys for Fairchild argue that he was abused as a child, is mentally ill and is remorseful for his actions.

“As Richard Fairchild’s brain has deteriorated, he has descended into psychosis, a fact well-documented in his prison records,” Emma Rolls, one of Fairchild’s attorneys, said in a statement to the board. “Yet despite having lost touch with reality, Richard remains remorseful for his crime and continues to have an unblemished prison record. There is no principled reason for Oklahoma to execute him.”

Fairchild’s execution was the seventh since Oklahoma resumed carrying out the death penalty in October 2021. It is the 16th execution in the U.S. this year, including one in Texas and one in Arizona on Wednesday, up from last year’s three-decade low of 11. An execution was also scheduled for later Thursday in Alabama.

After the execution was carried out Oklahoma’s Attorney General John O’Connor released the following statement:

“The State’s execution of Richard Fairchild was carried out with zero complications at 10:24 this morning, 29 years after he brutally tortured to death three-year-old Adam Broomhall,” said Attorney General John O’Connor. “Yesterday, Fairchild’s attorneys filed two lawsuits claiming he did not understand why he was being executed. In Fairchild’s last words, he called today ‘Justice for Adam day.’ Fairchild acknowledged that Adam would be 34 years old today and he apologized to Adam’s family. In spite of his attorney’s last-minute attempts to delay his lawful execution, Fairchild quite plainly knew why he was executed. Justice is now served for Adam and the people of Oklahoma. This does not bring Adam back to his family and nothing can fill the void left by the loss of a loved one. Our hearts and prayers are with Adam’s family.”

Also Thursday, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to rule on a request from death row inmate Richard Glossip for a hearing to determine whether a co-defendant sought to recant his testimony that Glossip hired him to kill motel owner Barry Van Treese. Glossip is also seeking what his attorneys allege is evidence that was withheld by prosecutors, including interviews with witnesses. The court rejected a similar request by Glossip earlier this month.

The U.S. has seen waning support in recent years for the death penalty across all political parties. About 6 in 10 Americans favor the death penalty, according to the General Social Survey, a major trends survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. While a majority continue to express support for the death penalty, the share has declined steadily since the 1990s, when nearly three-quarters were in favor.