Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday for his involvement in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery. Littlejohn received the injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m. CDT. This execution occurred despite recommendations from the state’s parole board for clemency, and there was no communication from the governor’s office prior to the execution.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt defended the decision, stating, “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.” Throughout his six years in office, Stitt has only granted clemency once and has denied recommendations for clemency in three other cases. Just a day before the execution, a spokesperson for Stitt mentioned that the governor had met with both prosecutors and Littlejohn’s attorneys but had not made a final decision regarding clemency.
Littlejohn’s execution marked the 14th under Stitt’s administration. The governor’s reasoning for disregarding the clemency recommendations remains unclear, although commuting Littlejohn’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole was an option.
On the same day, another execution was scheduled in Alabama, which, if carried out, would mark the first time in decades that five death row inmates in the U.S. have been executed within a single week.