Vaughan Foods beheading incident

On September 25, 2014, a Vaughan Foods employee identified as Alton Nolen was suspended from his job in suburban Oklahoma City after one of the victims (Traci Johnson) initiated a complaint against him following an argument "about [Nolen] not liking white people," according to Cleveland County Prosecutor Greg Mashburn.[8] Immediately afterwards, he went home to retrieve a knife and placed it inside his shoe. He then drove to the plant's main distribution center, crashed into a parked car,[9][10] and entered the front administrative office area. There, according to detectives, he attacked a female employee (Colleen Hufford) from behind with the knife, first slashing her throat and then beheading her.[11][12] Other coworkers tried to stop him during the assault by kicking him and throwing chairs at him. He slashed the throat and face of another female employee, Traci Johnson, intending to behead her. The attack ended when he was shot and wounded by Vaughan Foods Chief Operating Officer Mark Vaughan, an Oklahoma County reserve deputy, and arrested by responding police.[2][13][14][15]

On September 30, Nolen was charged with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.[8][9] According to police, he "openly admitted" to killing Hufford and injuring Johnson during the attack.[10]

On October 28, 2015, following a competency hearing, District Judge Lori Walkley ruled that Alton Nolen was competent to stand trial. The judge rejected defense attorneys' argument Nolen met the legal definition of mental retardation.[24] He was formally accused of beheading co-worker Colleen Hufford and nearly beheading Traci Johnson, a second co-worker, who survived her injuries. He also faced four assault and battery charges for threatening or assaulting co-workers with a knife. Prosecutors sought the death penalty.[24]

On August 17, 2016, an Oklahoma judge ruled that Nolen was not competent to enter a guilty plea in his murder case. The state mental hospital in Vinita handled Nolen's treatment and evaluation. The case was temporarily put on hold until Nolen returned from Vinita for a post-evaluation hearing.[25]

Nolen's trial began in September 2017. Represented by court-appointed counsel, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.[26] Prosecutors offered the testimony of five law enforcement officers who responded to the scene of the crime, as well as photographs showing the gruesome scene, the knife used in the attack, and items found in Nolen's apartment and car.[27] The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy also testified.[26] A paramedic who responded to the scene testified that, in a conversation in the back of the ambulance after the attack, Nolen was calm, attentive, and answered questions,[27] supporting their theory that Nolan was able to distinguish between right and wrong.[26] The state also introduced Nolen's two recorded confessions from September 2014, in which Nolen (then recovering from injuries in a hospital) told the Moore police and the FBI that he conducted the attack because he felt oppressed and because he believed he was following Islamic teachings: "I just feel like ... I did what I needed to do. What Allah ... says in the Qur'an to do. Oppressors don't need to be here."[26] In the recording, Nolen called Johnson "a slave for the devil" and indicated that his action was at least in part racially motivated: "I beat on Caucasians."[26] The district attorney expressed his view that Nolen was motivated more by racial resentment, and by a desire to "get revenge" against former co-workers, than by his religious beliefs and recent conversion to Islam.[28]

Nolen's defense attorneys did not dispute that he committed the killings, but contended that he was insane at the time of the crime, offering the testimony of two psychologists who had assessed Nolen.[29] One psychologist diagnosed Nolen with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.[29] A second psychologist, who interviewed Nolen in 2015, said that during her interview, Nolen was controlled and "quite delusional" but still cooperative, telling her that he wanted to be executed and that he had no regrets about his crime.[29][30] She also found Nolen to be intellectually impaired, with an IQ of 69; could only express himself at the level of a "child younger than 7"; and refused to cooperate with his lawyers.[29][30] She concluded that Nolen was insane at the time of the crime.[29] The psychologist said that Nolen had called her an "infidel" and that there was a history of mental illness in his family.[31] Closing arguments were focused on whether Nolen knew right from wrong at the time of the crime—the criteria for the insanity defense.[31]

On September 30, 2017, after two hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Nolen of one count of first-degree murder and five counts of assault, rejecting his insanity offenses.[31][32] On October 2, 2017, the jury sentenced him to life in prison for the assaults. The jury also recommended on October 12, 2017, that Nolen be sentenced to death for murder.[33][5]

On December 15, 2017, Cleveland County District Judge Lori Walkley followed the jury's recommendation, and sentenced Nolen to death by lethal injection.[7]

In March 2021, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the ruling.[34] In January 2022, the same court denied Nolen's request for post-conviction relief.[35]

• 2014 ISIL beheading incidents