An Oklahoma County killer on Wednesday apologized for killing two young men in a drive-by car shooting.
“Although I don’t deserve it, I ask for your collective mercy,” said Kendrick A. Simpson during a Pardon and Parole Board clemency hearing that included his victims’ family members and a survivor, London Johnson. “I’m not the worst of the worst. I’m not a monster.”
The Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 against recommending clemency to Gov. Kevin Stitt ahead of his scheduled execution.
Simpson, 45, is set to die by lethal injection on Feb. 12 at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, where he made his appearance by way of video conference before the board.
Simpson is set to be the first person executed by Oklahoma this year.
Simpson, who relocated to Oklahoma City following Hurricane Katrina 2005, said he was young, traumatized, ignorant and compelled by paranoia when he in 2005 fired about 20 rounds from an assault-style rifle into a Caprice carrying Glen Palmer, Anthony Jones, 19, and Johnson. Palmer and Jones were killed.
The murders followed an altercation at a club.
Prior to the murders, Simpson was incarcerated for an armed home invasion robbery in which he shot a business owner, who survived.
Simpson’s attorneys argued he suffered from a traumatized upbringing that included drugs and violence and childhood sexual assault. He was also a victim of a drive-by-shooting, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and paranoia when he arrived in Oklahoma City, they said.
Johnson, the survivor who is now the father of six children, said “part of me died in that car as well. Those were my best friends.”
He said he has had sleepless nights going over the images of his friends “bleeding out” in the car.
“This ruthless and violent killer hunted and executed his victims without remorse,” said Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. “I commend the Pardon and Parole Board for rejecting clemency today.”
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