Convicted Oklahoma County killer Emmanuel A. Littlejohn was put to death Thursday after Gov. Kevin Stitt declined to grant clemency.
“These decisions are very difficult and I do not make them lightly,” Stitt said in a statement following the execution. “Mr. Littlejohn murdered an innocent man 32 years ago while robbing a convenience store.”
Stitt said a jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The decision was upheld by multiple judges.
“As a law and order governor, I have a hard time unilaterally overturning that decision,” Stitt said. “Today, justice for this life lost was carried out. I hope this brings closure to the families impacted by this murder.”
Littlejohn, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m. Thursday after the administration of a lethal injection at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, said Kay Thompson, Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesperson.
The execution was carried out with no complications, she said.
Littlejohn was sentenced to die for the 1992 shooting death of Kenny Meers during a convenience store robbery in Oklahoma City. Meers was shot in the face.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Aug. 7 voted 3-2 to recommend clemency.
Littlejohn said he participated in the robbery, but wasn’t the shooter.
Glenn Bethany received life without parole for his role.
In 2023, Oklahoma County killer Phillip Dean Hancock was executed. Stitt took no action on the Pardon and Parole Board’s clemency recommendation .
Don Heath, Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty chair, said Stitt’s failure to notify Littlejohn until the last minute that he was not granting clemency was “a needless infliction of emotional distress.”
“It has to stop,” Heath said.
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