CONVICTED murderer Gilbert Postelle is set to be executed on February 17, 2022, nearly 15 years after he killed four people in Oklahoma.

The killings took place on Memorial Day in 2005 and Postelle has since said he doesn't have a full recollection of the murders.

Who is Gilbert Postelle?

Gilbert Postelle was convicted of killing four people on Memorial Day in 2005, in what he claimed was a connection to his father's motorcycle accident that had left him severely injured.

Police reported Postelle used an AK-47 stifle rifle when he killed James Alderson, 57, Terry Smith, 56, Donnie Swindle, 49, and Amy Wright, 26, at an Oklahoma City home in 2005.

Postelle was 19 years old when he killed the four people but in December 2021, he claimed he doesn't remember the murders because of his methamphetamine use in the days leading up to the attack on the four people.

However, in August 2005 The Oklahoman reported that court papers said Postelle told Alderson, Smith, Swindle, and Wright to "get on their knees" before shooting a total of 30 rounds into the victims.

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According to The Oklahoman, police were told by an informant that Postelle believed the four people were involved in the 2004 motorcycle crash that injured his father, Earl Postelle.

The court records showed Earl Postelle had lost control of his 1972 Harley Davidson and slide 27 feet but had blamed Swindle for the crash.

He suffered from a brain injury and often has seizures The Oklahoman reported.

Earl Postelle was initially charged alongside his son but was ultimately deemed unfit to stand trial.

Will Gilbert Postelle be executed?

Gilbert Postelle was sentenced to death in 2008 and nearly 15 years later he is still sitting on death row.

The families of the victims say they may finally receive closure after Postelle receives death by injection on February 17, 2022.

“Every day I think about this stuff,” Wright's uncle, Larry Lyles, told Oklahoma's Own 9. “Every day I see something similar to it on the television and it just brings back old memories.”

Oklahoma restarted its death penalty in 2021 and Postelle will be the fourth person to be executed by death penalty since then, and will be the second person to be executed in 2022.

"Did they care about their victims’ feelings whenever they did the crime? Did they care about the victims suffering? No,” Lyles said. “They didn't care, so once you’re on the slab to be executed, that’s just part of it.”

Why did Gilbert Postelle ask for a stay of execution?

Postelle requested a stay of execution in December 2021 after claiming the lethal injection penalty is unconstitutional.

He instead requested to be executed by firing squad, a request that has since been denied.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board needed all five members to vote in favor of a stay of execution, meaning Postelle wouldn't be put to death until his request to be killed by firing squad was approved or denied.

Assistant Attorney General Julie Pittman spoke to the board in December saying that two of the victims tried to flee and Postelle did not show mercy before he shot them in the back.

"In her final moments, Amy Wright was screaming and clawing the ground to escape from Gilbert Postelle,” Pittman told the board, AP News reported.

“He heard her screams, saw her desperate attempt to escape from him. Rather than showing Amy mercy, he shot her in the back three times.”

Postelle's attorney, Robert Nance, argued against Pittman, saying Postelle feels remorse for his crimes and is a "changed man."

“He’s a different man than he was,” Nance said. “I think he needs a certain amount of forgiveness because he grew up in an environment that was almost exclusively negative.”

The board voted 4-1 to reject Postelle's request for clemency in December 2021 and the US Supreme Court denied his request to halt the execution.

What did Gilbert Postelle's family say?

Gilbert Postelle has a daughter, Kaylei Johnson, with his ex-wife Jenny and is currently engaged to Oklahoma native Jackie Thompson.

When the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board was hearing from both sides after Postelle requested clemency, Johnson spoke about her father's character and asked for his life to be spared.

"My dad is my inspiration. He keeps me going," Kayle said. "He calls me his beautiful daughter and says he’s proud of me. I don’t want to lose my dad.” 

Postelle's fiance, Jackie Thompson read a letter at a press conference on February 1, 2022, and like his daughter, asked for Postelle's life to be spared.

"Gil is kind, loving, funny, loyal, and has a heart of gold. He is amazing in more ways than one. Gilbert Postelle is someone's husband and I say husband because we don't need a paper to prove our love," Thompson said.

"He is a dad, a son, a brother, and a friend. How can the system say it's wrong to kill, but yet they do it. Two wrongs don't make a right.

"Executing Gil is not going to bring those people back. It's only creating more victims. He deserves a second chance execution affects more than one person.

"The system says execution is justice for murder, yet execution is murder. So where is our justice when the state murders the person we love and love?"

But speaking against Postelle's family, Mary Jo Swindle, the mother of victim Donnie Swindle said, "We never got to see him after he was murdered because his body was riddled and torn with bullets.

“You may be a changed man, but my son and three others are still dead.”

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