OKLAHOMA CITY — United States Attorney General Pam Bondi has agreed to transfer convicted murderer George John Hanson to Oklahoma so that his death sentence can be carried out in response to Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s official request last month for the federal inmate.

Hanson, also known as John Fitzgerald Hanson, and an accomplice carjacked and kidnapped 77-year-old Mary Bowles from a Tulsa mall in 1999 before shooting her to death at an isolated dirt pit near Owasso. Hanson’s accomplice then killed Jerald Max Thurman, who was at the scene and witnessed the crime. Hanson has been serving a separate life sentence at a Louisiana federal prison for a bank robbery.

Drummond requested the transfer on Jan. 23, the same week that President Trump issued an executive order “to ensure that the laws that authorize capital punishment are respected and faithfully implemented, and to counteract the politicians and judges who subvert the law by obstructing and preventing the execution of capital sentences.”

In an attempt to stop the transfer, Hanson filed a petition for emergency relief in a federal district court in Louisiana. The U.S. Depart-ment of Justice filed its response Wednesday night, recommending denial of his petition. Bondi filed a memorandum yesterday directing Hanson’s transfer in keeping with Drummond’s request.

“I appreciate Attorney General Bondi’s swift action in this case and her commitment to ensuring that justice is served for the death of Mary Bowles,” Drummond said. Drummond asked the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to transfer Hanson to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center before the next scheduled execution on March 20 so that he is eligible for the next available execution date, which likely will be in June.

Hanson was scheduled for execution in Oklahoma on Dec. 15, 2022. Drummond said the Biden Administration’s refusal to transfer Hanson was “the epitome of subverting and obstructing the execution of a capital sentence.”