|
Listen to this article here
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla–Dozens protested outside the Governor’s Mansion Thursday morning as Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt allowed the execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn to proceed two hours away at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
The usual sound of honking cars and chirping birds provided an eery calm as protesters of different faiths and backgrounds joined together to oppose another execution by the state.
Rev. Sheri T. Dickerson, cousin to Littlejohn and the executive director of Black Lives Matter OKC, joined Thursday’s protest as she held hope the governor would spare his life.
“We are here to say we’re offended that the state and the Governor is making us complicit in state-sanctioned violence, and to say we are witnessing another lynching. This is a lynching,” Dickerson said.
“My faith calls me to stand. To stand against what is wrong. To ask for mercy, grace and forgiveness,” she said.
Oklahoma executes man despite clemency recommendation
For decades, Littlejohn, 52, has maintained he wasn’t the shooter in the 1992 robbery that ended in the death of southeast OKC convenience store owner Kenneth Meers. His attorneys argued that while he admitted to participating in the robbery, his co-defendent, Glenn Bethany pulled the trigger.
In two separate trials, prosecutors accused Bethany and Littlejohn of being the shooters. Bethany received life without parole, while Littlejohn was sentenced to death.
His case swayed the state Pardon and Parole Board to approve clemency for him in August. But like previous clemency recommendations, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt ignored it and allowed Emmanuel Littlejohn’s execution to proceed at 10:17 a.m.
“These decision are very difficult, and I do not make them lightly,” Gov. Stitt said in a statement after the execution. Mr. Littlejohn murdered an innocent man 32 years ago while robbing a convenience store. A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. As a law and order governor, I have a hard time unilaterally overturning that decision,” he said.
Yet state law gives him that exact unilateral power to do so. He’s approved clemency just once, for Julius Jones, in 2021. He’s denied three previous clemency recommendations.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of our client, Emmanuel Littlejohn, due to Governor Stitt’s refusal to grant him clemency,” Littlejohn’s legal team said in a statement. “The Pardon and Parole Board recognized that Manuel’s case does not meet the standard for a death sentence, and recommended clemency. The Governor’s decision to reject the Board’s recommendation and condemn Manuel to death is simply cruel.”
“Today, justice for this life lost was carried out. I hope this brings closure to the families impacted by this murder,” Gov. Stitt said.
Protesters condemn Emmanuel Littlejohn execution
Connie Johnson, a former state senator, and Rep. Mauree Turner (D-OKC) attended Thursday’s protest, calling the execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn a miscarriage of justice. Nicole McAffee, executive director of Freedom Oklahoma, a 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy group, also stood in solidarity with the protesters.
Pastor Michael McBride, an organizer with Live Free National, said he came to Oklahoma for a peace summit but had no idea the state was preparing for an execution.
Diane Aoorie is a Catholic Sister of Mercy and member of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty who joined Thursday’s protest. She said killing to seek justice for a killing will never bring closure.
“It’s not justice. It seems much more revenge, tit for tat, an eye for an eye. That just makes the whole world blind. When are we gonna stop the cycle of violence,” Aaorie told the Black Wall Street Times in an interview.
“We can’t just talk about being a pro-life state as the governor so often touts. This is not pro-life. The intentional taking of any life, whether it be from womb to tomb, is not respecting life,” she said.
Five executions in one week across U.S.
Thursday morning’s state-sanctioned killing in Oklahoma comes ahead of the scheduled execution of Alan Miller by nitrogen gas in Alabama, the second ever time it has been used.
If all executions proceed this week, it marks the most in one week in nearly two decades.
South Carolina executed Freddie Owens Friday, the first time in 13 years, despite the person who testified against him later saying Owens wasn’t at the scene of the crime. On Tuesday, Texas executed Travis Mullins, and Missouri executed Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams, despite strong claims of innocence and a request from the victim’s family that he not be executed.
Thursday’s execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn marks the 14th execution since Gov. Stitt lifted a moratorium several years ago.
Read the full statement from Littlejohn’s legal team below:
We are heartbroken by the loss of our client, Emmanuel Littlejohn, due to Governor Stitt’s refusal to grant him clemency. The Pardon and Parole Board recognized that Manuel’s case does not meet the standard for a death sentence, and recommended clemency. The Governor’s decision to reject the Board’s recommendation and condemn Manuel to death is simply cruel.
Manuel’s case was unique because the prosecution tried to have it both ways, arguing that Manuel and his co-defendant both killed someone, even though the victim was killed by a single shot. Moreover, Manuel’s jury did not understand what a life sentence without the possibility of parole meant, and the judge refused to clarify it for them. As the Board determined, this case was not appropriate for the ultimate punishment of death.
Manuel deeply regretted his actions and had great remorse for the role he played in a senseless crime. Manuel was a pillar of strength for his family, who now no longer has his support. Moreover, Manuel’s health was failing—he was in a wheelchair and had been in and out of the medical unit over the past few weeks.
Governor Stitt’s choice to deny clemency for Manuel ensured that Oklahoma killed a remorseful and physically frail man for a tragic death he may not have even caused. This is a shameful day in Oklahoma.