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GREENWOOD DIST. – Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3 to 2 in favor of clemency for death row inmate Emmanuel Littlejohn. He is scheduled to be executed on Thursday, September 26, unless Republican Governor Kevin Stitt agrees with the Board’s decision.
Littlejohn, a Black man, was convicted in 2000 for the 1992 killing of store owner Kenneth Meers. He was convicted under Oklahoma’s felony murder rule, which allows for a murder charge if someone dies during the commission of a felony, even if the defendant did not directly cause the death.
In Littlejohn’s case, he did not pull the trigger; his accomplice, Glenn Bethany, did. Despite this, Littlejohn received the death penalty while Bethany got life without parole.
Advocacy groups like the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) and legal experts argue that the combination of Littlejohn’s mental health issues, the questionable evidence, and the disparities in sentencing between him and his co-defendant merit clemency. They assert that executing Littlejohn would be a grave injustice.
“The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty extends sincere condolences to the family of Kenneth Meers, knowing that there is no remediation for their tragic loss and that more killing, even that done by the state, will not erase the grief and is not justice,” Dr. Elizabeth Overman, OK-CADP Vice-Chair said in a statement, following the Boards clemency decision.
Prior to Littlejohn’s conviction, there are claims that his legal representation was inadequate, failing to present crucial evidence regarding his mental health and the circumstances of his upbringing, which might have influenced the jury’s decision.
Notably, it was determined that Littlejohn suffers from extensive brain damage due to his mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy and subsequent trauma and neglect throughout his childhood. This brain damage affects his judgment and impulse control. His defense argued that this critical information was not adequately presented during his trial.
“The coalition recognizes that the Clemency Board ‘heard’ Mr. Littlejohn’s plea for acknowledgement that life circumstances, born with drugs in his system, raised under abusive conditions of violence and abject poverty, coupled with an inability to secure an education, worked to prevent him from crafting an upstanding life for himself. Quite correctly the Clemency Board’s 3-2 recommendation of life without parole for Mr. Littlejohn recognizes the fairness of commutation,” Dr. Overman added in her statement.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond urged the Pardon and Parole Board not to recommend clemency for Littlejohn.
“I am disappointed by the Pardon and Parole Board decision today but appreciate their thoughtful deliberation. I remain steadfast that the family of Kenny Meers has waited far too long for justice to be done. My office intends to make our case to the governor why there should not be clemency granted to this violent and manipulative killer,” Attorney General Drummond said in a statement.
Since executions resumed in the state in 1976, eleven Oklahomans have been exonerated. In 2024, only two individuals, Michael Smith and Richard Rojem, were executed in Oklahoma.
Julius Jones, previously on death row, was granted clemency and his sentence was commuted to life without parole. The Clemency Board’s decision today to grant clemency to Littlejohn aligns with this precedent, recommending life without parole.