Benjamin Cole: Death Row Inmate Who Killed His 9-Month-Old Daughter

Breanna cried and interrupted his video game, and he killed her. She died a horrific death, and he got off easy, getting to receive a simple injection in his arm and go to sleep.

On October 20, 2022, Benjamin Cole was executed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was pronounced dead at 10:22 in the morning.

Twenty years earlier, he had ended the life of a nine-month-old girl, his own daughter. Her name was Breanna, and this is the story of what happened between those two mornings.

On December 20, 2002, in Claremore, Oklahoma, a nine-month-old baby girl was crying in her crib inside a small house, just as babies do.

Her father, Benjamin Cole, was in another room playing a video game while the crying continued unabated.

Cole walked over to the crib, and what happened next took only seconds. He grabbed Breanna and forced her body backward, bending her over the crib rail until her spine snapped and her aorta tore.

According to prosecutors, Cole then walked away and went back to his game while Breanna Victoria Cole bled internally until she died.

There was no long investigation, no manhunt, and no mystery to solve. When the police arrived, Cole gave a taped confession, admitting to what he had done and stating that he would regret it for the rest of his life.

That should have been the simplest part of this case, but it was not. Cole was arrested within days of Breanna’s death.

By December 26, 2002, he was formally charged in Rogers County with first-degree murder of a child, and prosecutors moved to seek the death penalty.

They filed a bill of particulars, a legal document listing three main reasons why they believed the crime deserved execution: a prior felony conviction involving violence, the especially cruel nature of the killing, and the belief that Cole would remain a danger to society.

The state offered him a way out through a plea deal: plead guilty in exchange for life without parole, avoiding a trial, the death penalty, and decades of appeals.

Cole rejected the offer. His attorneys later stated that he believed going to trial was God’s will.

He told them his case would transform Rogers County, touch people’s hearts, and somehow result in him walking away a free man. He rejected the plea deal multiple times.

Before the case could go to a jury, the court had to answer whether Benjamin Cole was mentally competent to stand trial.

Judges ordered competency evaluations in both 2003 and 2004. Under Oklahoma’s determination process, a jury reviewed the question and found him competent to be tried.

The trial began in the fall of 2004. Prosecutors laid out the facts plainly, focusing on the crying, the interruption, and injuries that a medical examiner testified could not have happened by accident.

The defense did not dispute that Cole caused his daughter’s death, so there was no argument over his guilt. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder.

During the sentencing phase, the same jury weighed the aggravating factors and found two of the three argued by the state: the prior violent felony conviction and the heinous nature of the murder.

On December 8, 2004, the trial court sentenced thirty-nine-year-old Benjamin Cole to death, almost exactly two years after Breanna’s death.

Court filings would later describe Cole’s upbringing as marked by multi-generational addiction and abuse.

His attorneys pointed to a documented history of mental illness long before Breanna’s death, though none of this was disputed during the trial regarding his guilt.

These factors became relevant later in a different legal battle over whether Cole should be executed at all.

A death sentence in Oklahoma rarely results in a quick execution, and Cole’s case became one of the state’s longest.

His direct appeal was denied in 2007, followed by post-conviction appeals in 2008 and subsequent years, each extending his time on death row.

In 2015, with standard appeals exhausted and an execution date approaching, all executions in the state were halted.

This pause was not specific to Cole’s case, but was due to broader issues with Oklahoma’s execution protocol after documented errors involving incorrect drugs occurred in the execution chamber.

The state’s attorney general requested a stay, stating he lacked confidence in the Department of Corrections’ ability to legally carry out executions, leading to a pause that lasted over six years.

During that period, Cole’s attorneys requested a separate jury trial to determine if he was mentally competent to be executed—a distinct legal standard from competency to stand trial.

Oklahoma law allows for this review when there is good reason to believe an inmate may not understand their pending execution.

That request was litigated for years and ultimately denied on procedural grounds rather than a jury ruling on its merits.

When Oklahoma resumed executions in October 2021, Cole’s case moved back toward the execution chamber.

His attorneys argued that Cole’s condition had deteriorated significantly during his time in prison, diagnosing him with schizophrenia compounded by a growing brain lesion.

They described him as living in a largely catatonic state, refusing medical care and hygiene, hoarding food, and rarely speaking to anyone, including his lawyers.

At a 2016 clemency hearing, testimony described him crawling on his cell floor. Two board members voted for clemency citing unresolved questions about his brain scans, but the board voted three to two against it.

By his final competency hearing in 2022, Cole appeared in court in a wheelchair, remaining silent and slumped over at the waist throughout the proceedings.

The state contested this portrayal. A forensic psychologist who evaluated Cole that year reported no substantial signs of hallucinations, mental illness, or intellectual impairment.

Penitentiary staff, including the warden, held views contrasting with the defense’s descriptions.

A Pittsburg County judge ruled Cole competent to be executed, and the Pardon and Parole Board voted four to one to deny clemency.

Cole’s attorneys appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, filing petitions the Wednesday before and the morning of the execution, both of which were denied.

On October 20, 2022, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Cole did not request a custom last meal and was served the standard religious meal: vegetarian lasagna, salad, a tortilla, and a fruit drink packet.

Five media witnesses were present to observe the execution.

At 10:06 a.m., the first of three lethal drugs was administered, and Cole was declared unconscious six minutes later, with witnesses reporting snoring from inside the chamber.

While strapped to the gurney, Cole delivered a final two-minute prayer, asking Jesus to receive his spirit, urging listeners to choose Jesus, and saying, “Keep your eyes peeled. Be ready at all times.”

Near the end of his statement, he added, “I forgive everyone that I have done wrong.”

At 10:22 a.m., fifty-seven-year-old Benjamin Cole was pronounced dead.

Afterward, Breanna’s aunt and uncle spoke publicly, stating that a nine-month-old baby should not have had to wait twenty years for justice and expressing grief over the life Breanna was denied.

The Oklahoma Attorney General released a statement affirming that justice had been served for Breanna and the state, while acknowledging that the outcome could not replace the loss.

Cole’s defense attorney stated that his client had suffered from a severe, untreated mental illness for years.

The public record presents two distinct depictions of Benjamin Cole: the man convicted in 2004 who understood his trial, and the man described two decades later as severely physically and mentally impaired.

Both descriptions were presented under oath, raising ongoing legal and ethical questions regarding the execution of individuals whose mental state may have altered significantly over time.