Prosecutors drop charge against widower

A widower who confessed to police that he killed his ill wife has been released from jail and had his murder charge dismissed after prosecutors couldn’t corroborate the confession.

Jimmy Andrew Hankins walked into the Oklahoma City Police Department in August 2015 and told detectives “he could no longer live with the guilt” of killing his wife, police reported.

“I knew she could have lived and I took that from her,” Hankins told detectives, according to a court affidavit.

Hankins said he suffocated his wife with a pillow on July 2, 2014, because he was tired of caring for her, police reported. His wife suffered from dementia and other medical conditions.

He told detectives he decided to make her death look like natural causes and then had her cremated, police reported. With no signs of foul play, an autopsy wasn’t performed.

Less than 24 hours after being jailed, Hankins recanted his confession, claiming he was suffering from a psychotic or delusional episode and made it all up, Oklahoma County First Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said.

“This case isn’t being dismissed because he no longer stands behind his confession. This case is being dismissed because I believe we are ethically and legally required to do so,” Rowland told

The Oklahoman. “Our best efforts for a year have failed to produce evidence to corroborate his confession, which is required under the law.”

Rowland said someone can’t be convicted of a crime solely on a confession. “There has to be some independent evidence so that the confession to the crime is trustworthy,” Rowland said.

He said the only thing that could be corroborated was the fact that Hankins’ wife is dead. Her death was listed as natural on the death certificate.

Rowland said no doctor could say the woman’s death was unexpected and no witness could say Hankins had ever talked about a plan to end her life.

Public Defender Robert Ravitz said his attorneys intended to argue that there was a lack of corroborating evidence. Without a body, there was a lack of physical evidence for corroboration.

Confession

Hankins, now 57, of Oklahoma City, was charged in August 2015 with first-degree murder. Prosecutors dismissed the charge on Dec. 21. He was released from jail early Dec. 22. His jury trial had been set for Jan. 23.

Rowland said when Hankins confessed, the interview was recorded.

“It is a very compelling, very believable interview,” Rowland said. “In the video, he’s not overly emotional. He’s very coherent. He goes into great detail about what he did, about why he did it.”

Hankins said he began doubling his wife’s prescribed medication and unhooked her oxygen but she didn’t die, a police detective reported in a search warrant affidavit. Hankins said he then decided to suffocate his wife while she slept before her physical therapist’s arrival, according to the affidavit.

The therapist discovered the woman, Susan Hankins, dead. Susan Hankins was 58. Jimmy Hankins received more than $90,000 in life insurance, “which was also motivation,” the detective reported.

“There’s no statute of limitations on murder. If and when other evidence ever surfaces on this, you can bet that we’ll refile it,” Rowland said. “As a prosecutor, sometimes doing justice requires us to do things we don’t necessarily like. I’m not going to tell you that I really like the outcome of this case. But ... I am absolutely confident that we’ve done what the law requires here.”

On Friday, Jimmy Hankins, reached by phone, declined comment.

Jimmy and Susan Hank ins had been married almost 20 years total, divorcing in 2004 and remarrying three years later, records show.