OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 on April 8 to deny clemency for death row prisoner Raymond Eugene Johnson, drawing sharp criticism from a leading anti-death penalty organization as his execution date approaches.
On April 8, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0, denying clemency for death row prisoner Raymond Eugene Johnson, according to a statement released by the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP). Johnson, now 52, is scheduled to be executed Thursday, May 14, for the murders of Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, in 2007.
In response to the board’s denial of clemency, OK-CADP Chair Elizabeth Overman stated in the coalition’s release, “The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty extends sincere condolences to the family of Brooke and Kya Whitaker. We know that murder, whether at the hands of individuals or the state, resonates far beyond the confines of the event.”
However, Overman emphasized in the OK-CADP statement that “the state carries out murder as public policy and Raymond Johnson’s plea for clemency comes in a questionable context.” Oklahoma, a small state of 4.4 million people, has the highest execution rate in the country, Overman continued in the statement.
According to the OK-CADP statement, Overman added, “The decision of the Pardon and Parole Board today reaffirms that Oklahoma will remain an outlier,” referring to it as a “mortifying distinction.” She stated that “the system has significant issues such as wrongful convictions, a string of botched executions, and illegal procurement of the killing drugs.”
Overman explained in the statement that such issues occur “amidst deep-rooted issues riddled with racial bias” and “bad legal representation.” She added that “the documented illegal activities carried out by prosecutors to secure convictions” remain unaddressed, according to OK-CADP.
According to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center titled Deeply Rooted, “41% (48/117) of the people Oklahoma has executed have been people of color.” The report states that “Black people make up the majority of the people of color executed in the modern era of the death penalty (37/48).”
The report also highlights concerns about the reliability of capital convictions in Oklahoma, stating that “half of all death sentences imposed in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties … have been reversed in the courts or have resulted in a commutation or exoneration,” making a death sentence “no more statistically reliable than a coin toss.”
Overman called attention in the OK-CADP statement to the 2017 bipartisan Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, which recommended “46 areas that merit critical concern” after examining the Oklahoma capital execution process.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center’s Deeply Rooted report, “the bipartisan commission found Oklahoma’s penalty system created unacceptable risks of inconsistent, discriminatory, and inhumane application of the death penalty.”
The report also notes that the bipartisan commission unanimously recommended a moratorium on executions until reforms were implemented, citing “disturbing” findings that led members to question whether the system could ensure that “no innocent person is put to death.”
However, “to date, the reforms have not been implemented,” Overman said in the statement. She argued that the “state legislature refuses to take them up while the state continues to practice homicide, killing people for killing people.”
Co-Chair of the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission and former U.S. Judge Andy Lester said that “the capital punishment system in Oklahoma is broken. It does not work as it should,” as cited in the OK-CADP statement.
Referencing Lester’s statement, Overman explained that “the Pardon and Parole Board made a bad decision today.” She added that the “pain and suffering of Brooke’s family falls into the abyss of unreliable state policy that is incapable of truly rendering justice,” according to OK-CADP.
“Executing Raymond Johnson does not bring Brooke and Kya back,” Overman said in the statement. “The death penalty in Oklahoma is a miscarriage that denies closure while guaranteeing heartbreak and misery.”
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