A death row inmate will die in two days if he's not granted clemency by the state's governor.
James Coddington was sentenced to death, which is carried out by lethal injection in Oklahoma, after being found guilty of the 1997 killing of Albert Hale.
Coddington, who was reportedly experiencing drug-induced psychosis at the time, slaughtered his pal after he refused to stump up £42 ($50) to help him feed his habit.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board said the murder was addiction-driven and has recommended his life be spared.
They've asked for his sentence to be commuted to life without parole.
During a heartbreaking five-minute plea for his life at the parole hearing, Coddington said: "I can’t apologise enough for what I did.”
Adding that Hale was "one of my friends", he said he was trying to help him through his dark times by not giving him the cash.
"And for that, he lost his life," Coddington added.
Despite the monstrous killing, the convict said he's grown, found God, and no longer considered himself the "vicious" man he once was.
His claims have been echoed by others, including his lawyer and prison staff - who've set up a petition urging the governor to commute his sentence.
At the hearing, he told the board: "I’m clean, I know God, I’m not … I’m not a vicious murderer.
“If this ends with my death, I can’t say it’s wrong.”
His lawyer Emma Rolls said: "James has lived out a transformation on death row.
"This transformation has revealed his innate goodness. There’s no doubt that James committed a horrific act, but the entirety of his life demonstrates he is not a monster.”
While claiming to have forgiven Coddington, Hale's son Mitch said his forgiveness "does not release him from the consequences of his actions".
Governor Kevin Stitt now has Coddington's life in his hands as all appeals have been exhausted.
The only way he will live beyond Thursday is if the governor decided to grant him clemency.
Stitt can decide to stick with the board's recommendation, or decide to let the execution go ahead in consideration of the wishes of Hales' family.
During his two decades on the row, Coddington has been a model prisoner and has worked to redeem himself, his lawyer argued.
Prison staff, including former Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Justin Jones, have also signed a petition appealing for the sentence to be commuted.
Lawyers argued Coddington's behaviour was a result of his impaired mental state, due to his drug use.
His severely-impaired mental state left him without the faculties to develop intent for the killing, a requirement for a first-degree murder charge.
These mitigating factors were not shared during the trial, meaning the jury made their decision without being given the opportunity to consider the full extent of the impairment.
Subsequent hearings have agreed this exclusion was a constitutional error.
But a federal court knocked the issue back to state level, claiming the ruling was "harmless".
Coddington was raised by an alcoholic and drug-addled dad who filled his children's bottles with booze, the board learned.
The convict started his own journey into addiction when he was just a child, battling substance abuse for years before Hale's murder at 24. He finally got clean while in prison.
If Coddington is killed on Thursday, he will be the first death row inmate executed in the state, kicking off a monthly slaying schedule for the two years from now up until 2024.
If all inmates are killed in those two years, more than 50 per cent of Oklahoma's death-row prisoners will be dead.
