Oklahoma prepares to execute man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing 7-year-old girl in 1984
Oklahoma plans to execute a man Thursday who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 7-year-old girl in 1984.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma plans to execute a man Thursday who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 7-year-old girl in 1984.
Richard Rojem, 66, has exhausted his appeals and is scheduled to receive a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
During a clemency hearing earlier this month, Rojem denied responsibility for killing his former stepdaughter, Layla Cummings. The child’s mutilated and partially clothed body was discovered in a field in western Oklahoma near the town of Burns Flat. She had been stabbed to death.
Richard Rojem on Feb. 11, 2023. Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP“I wasn’t a good human being for the first part of my life, and I don’t deny that,” said Rojem, handcuffed and wearing a red prison uniform, when he appeared via a video link from prison before the state’s Pardon and Parole Board. “But I went to prison. I learned my lesson and I left all that behind.”
The board unanimously denied Rojem’s bid for mercy. Rojem’s attorney, Jack Fisher, said there are no pending appeals that would halt his execution.
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