Emmanuel Littlejohn is scheduled to be executed by the State of Oklahoma today, September 26 2024, unless the Governor steps in
According to court documents Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany would enter a convenience store where the manager Kenneth Meers was shot and killed.
Both Glenn Bethany and Emmanuel Littlejohn would be arrested for the robbery and murder
Glenn Bethany would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole
Emmanuel Littlejohn would be arrested and sentenced to death
Littlejohn has maintained over the years that he did participate in the robbery however Glenn Bethany was responsible for the murder
The Oklahoma parole board actually recommended clemency for Littlejohn however now it is in the Governors hands whether or not it is granted
_ Emmanuel Littlejohn was executed on September 26 2024
Emmanuel Littlejohn Case
Emmanuel Littlejohn has been waiting for months to find out whether he will die on Thursday or get to live. It’s been “the hardest thing I ever did.”
Littlejohn, 52, is set to be executed for the shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City in 1992. If Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declines to grant him clemency, Littlejohn will be the third inmate executed by the state this year and the 17th in the nation. He’s also one of five men the U.S. is executing in a six-day period, and he’s set to die just about eight hours before Alabama is expected to execute Alan Eugene Miller using nitrogen gas.
“I would say to the governor: Do what you think is the right thing,” Littlejohn told USA TODAY in a recent interview.
Littlejohn has admitted to his role in the robbery but has maintained that his accomplice was the one to pull the trigger, not him.
“I accept responsibility for what I did but not what they want me to accept responsibility for,” Littlejohn previously told USA TODAY. “They want me to accept that I killed somebody, but I haven’t killed somebody.”
In a rare move, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Littlejohn, whose legal team argued that the evidence in the case was unclear, especially who the triggerman was.
Still, Republican Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said afterward that his office would still be arguing against clemency to the governor, calling Littlejohn a “violent and manipulative killer.”
Littlejohn was one of two robbers who took money from the Root-N-Scoot convenience store in south Oklahoma City on June 19, 1992. Littlejohn was 20 years old at the time.
Kenneth Meers, 31, was killed by a single shot to the face as he charged at the robbers with a broom. Witnesses differed on who fired the gun.
Clemency activists for Littlejohn pointed to witnesses who said the “taller man” was the shooter, referring to the other robber, Glenn Bethany. The state put forward court testimony from the survivors of the robbery who identified Littlejohn as the shooter during the clemency hearing.
Bethany was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1993.
Littlejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1994. A second jury in 2000 also voted for the death penalty at a resentencing trial. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ordered the resentencing because of improper testimony from a jailhouse informant.
Prosecutors argued at the clemency hearing that the shooting was the result of a debt owed by Littlejohn and Bethany, who were selling drugs at the time.
Littlejohn had recently been released from prison after pleading guilty and being convicted of burglary, assault and robbery, according to the state’s anti-clemency packet.
During the clemency hearing, Littlejohn’s attorneys said the inmate’s childhood was influenced by his mother’s addictions and violent surroundings. The lawyers presented a video in which his mother admitted to using drugs throughout her pregnancy and during Littlejohn’s childhood, becoming sober after her son was sentenced to death.
“At the time of the robbery of the Root-N-Scoot, (Littlejohn’s) 20-year-old brain was still developing in crucial areas and, given his disadvantaged childhood including frequent exposure to violence and drugs, his brain was already vulnerable and less developed than the typical 20-year-old’s,” Littlejohn’s attorneys wrote in their clemency packet.
Littlejohn’s attorneys argued that he had used his time in prison to grow up and was now a positive role model for his daughter and grandchildren.
Littlejohn told USA TODAY in his most recent interview that his family gave him strength through the clemency process.
“When you’re in a position like this you find out who loves you and who really cares about you,” Littlejohn said.
Littlejohn told USA TODAY ahead of the clemency hearing that he sought the family’s forgiveness.
“I’ve had someone kill my cousin and her baby. They were put on death row and I wanted him to be executed,” Littlejohn said. “I understand their emotions and I pray for them. But I didn’t kill their son.”
Littlejohn reiterated his plea to the Meers family during his statement in the clemency hearing.
Hear me now, I’m sorry,” Littlejohn said. “Oklahoma, nor the Meers family, will be better by killing me.”
The Meers family is in favor of the state executing Littlejohn, describing Meers as a community-minded man who always helped those less fortunate than himself.
“I believe my mom died of a broken heart,” Bill Meers said about his brother during the clemency hearing. “I cannot and will not forgive this man for carelessly finding Kenny’s life meant nothing.
Littlejohn has been at the center of a clemency campaign led by the Rev. Jeff Hood, anti-death penalty activist who has witnessed seven executions in various states.
“I believe Emmanuel wasn’t the shooter but on a very basic level, before the parole board, you got ambiguity,” Hood previously told USA TODAY in an interview. “I believe that the district attorney and the prosecutors created a situation where it should be impossible to execute someone because you aren’t sure that the person that you’re executing is the actual shooter.”
The clemency movement has echoed the one for of Julius Jones, the only person sentenced to death to receive clemency since Governor Stitt lifted a moratorium on executions in 2020.
Central to Littlejohn’s appeal was a claim of prosecutorial misconduct. His attorneys complained the same prosecutor argued at the first trial that Bethany was the shooter and then argued at the subsequent trial that Littlejohn was the shooter.
Emmanuel Littlejohn Execution
Oklahoma executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday morning, despite conflicting evidence regarding his guilt.
Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, was executed by lethal injection for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City. Littlejohn was the third inmate put to death by the state this year. He was 20 years old at the time the crime was committed.
During the robbery, the store owner, Kenneth Meers, 31, was shot in the face while trying to defend himself. Although Littlejohn admitted to his involvement in the robbery, he has maintained that his accomplice, Glenn Bethany, was the one who pulled the trigger. Bethany was sentenced to life without parole, while Littlejohn was sentenced to death.
“I committed a robbery that had devastating consequences,” Littlejohn said during the hearing. “But, I repeat, I did not kill Mr Meers.”
Littlejohn’s case has raised questions over conflicting evidence, with some witnesses pointing at Bethany as the shooter. His legal team argued against his execution, citing “inconsistent prosecutions” in his case. His lawyers also mentioned Littlejohn’s troubled childhood and underdeveloped brain at the time of the crime.
His team emphasized his personal growth in prison, where he has become a positive role model for his family.
“He was young and foolish,” Littlejohn’s mother, Ceily Mason, told KFOR. “He’s grown up and older, and he deserves a chance.”
Several jurors have admitted they mistakenly voted for the death penalty because they misunderstood the implications of a life without parole sentence.
During a hearing last month, Oklahoma’s pardon and parole board voted 3-2 to recommend the state’s governor, Kevin Stitt, spare Littlejohn’s life.
In 2021, the governor commuted the sentence of Julius Jones, who was convicted for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell, to life without the possibility of parole just a few hours before his execution. But no such decision was taken for Littlejohn.
Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, Gentner Drummond, argued against clemency to the governor, calling Littlejohn a “violent and manipulative killer”.
Littlejohn had expressed remorse for the robbery and sought forgiveness from the victim’s family, who were still in favor of his execution. The family described Meers as a pillar of the community, and his brother, Bill Meers, expressed that he could not forgive Littlejohn for taking his brother’s life, according to the local news outlet Oklahoma Voice.
Anti-death penalty activists, including the Rev Jeff Hood, have rallied around Littlejohn’s case, expressing their concern over the uncertainty of whether he was the actual shooter.
The last few days have witnessed a slew of executions across the country. On Tuesday, Marcellus Williams, 55, and Travis Mullis, 38, were executed in Missouri and Texas, respectively. Alan Miller, 59, is also scheduled for execution in Texas on Thursday.
Last week, South Carolina executed Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah just days after the key witness for the prosecution came forward to say he had lied at trial and the state was putting to death an innocent man.
