Oklahoma man says he didn't commit the crime he's set to die for. Will the governor spare him?
Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, is set to be executed in Oklahoma on Thursday — but nobody knows whether he’s truly guilty of the crime for which he was condemned.
Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, is set to be executed in Oklahoma on Thursday — but nobody knows whether he’s truly guilty of the crime for which he was condemned.
Littlejohn was convicted of murdering Kenneth Meers, 31, during a robbery at the Root-N-Scoot convenience store Meers owned in Oklahoma City in 1992. Meers was shot and killed by a single bullet, but both men who took part in the robbery — Littlejohn, then 20 years old, and Glenn Bethany, then 26 — were charged and convicted in his murder.
Littlejohn and his legal team have argued that his accomplice was the sole shooter and that he should not be executed because his case involves “inconsistent prosecutions.” Multiple jurors submitted sworn affidavits in support of Littlejohn’s clemency, claiming they mistakenly voted for the death penalty because they misunderstood how a sentence of life without parole works.
“I would have been OK with a life sentence,” Littlejohn said in an interview last month. “But a death sentence for robbery? I’m not cool with that.”
While Littlejohn has exhausted his appeals, he awaits a clemency decision from Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, after the state parole board voted 3-2 to recommend commuting his sentence to life without parole.
Rating: 5