By Yana Singhal
TULSA, OK – Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty questioned the state’s governor after he ignored the recommendation of clemency by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, and allowed the execution of Emmanuel Antonia Littlejohn last week here.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, said Rev. Don Heath, OK-CADP Chair, “could not see the humanity in him. He didn’t even show Mr. Littlejohn enough respect to make a formal statement to deny clemency.
“This is now the third time that Gov. Stitt has rejected a clemency recommendation from the Pardon and Parole Board and he didn’t bother to let the condemned man know that he was denying clemency until the last minute. This is the needless infliction of emotional distress to those being executed in their last moments and it has to stop.”
The Associated Press News explained, “A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death,” and notes the governor declined to commute Littlejohn’s sentence to life in prison without parole because, “As a law and order governor, I have a hard time unilaterally overturning that decision.”
Since “voting 3-2 last month to recommend clemency, the board appeared to be moved by questions Littlejohn’s lawyers raised about whether he or a co-defendant fired the shot that killed Kenneth Meers,” added the AP.
“Littlejohn was 20 when prosecutors say he and co-defendant Glenn Bethany robbed the Root-N-Scoot convenience store in south Oklahoma City in June 1992…in video testimony to the Pardon and Parole Board in early August, Littlejohn apologized to Meers’ family but denied firing the fatal shot.
“Littlejohn’s attorneys pointed out that the same prosecutor tried Bethany and Littlejohn in separate trials using a nearly identical theory, even though there was only one shooter and one bullet that killed Meers,” the AP story continued.
AP added, “prosecutors told the board that two teenage store employees who witnessed the robbery both said Littlejohn, not Bethany, fired the fatal shot. Bethany was sentenced to life in prison without parole.”
“Littlejohn’s attorneys also argued that killings resulting from a robbery are rarely considered death penalty cases and that prosecutors today would not have pursued the ultimate punishment. Littlejohn was prosecuted by former Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy, who was known for his zealous pursuit of the death penalty and secured 54 death sentences during more than 20 years in office,” notes AP.
