Exclusive: Oklahoma death row inmate Emmanuel Littlejohn wants forgiveness, mercy
Editor's Note: This story has been updated with the results of the clemency hearing.
An Oklahoma death row inmate set to be executed next month told USA TODAY in an interview that he empathizes with the family of the victim in his case but maintains that he was not the triggerman and that his life should be spared.
If Emmanuel Littlejohn could speak directly to the family of the victim, Kenneth Meers, he said he would ask for forgiveness.
"I know how they feel but please forgive me," he said in an interview with USA TODAY. "I feel their pain every day."
Littlejohn pleaded his case to avoid the execution chamber Wednesday and was recommended for clemency by the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and parole in a 3-2 vote. His fate now rests in the hands of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.
Littlejohn was convicted of murdering Meers, a 31-year-old convenience store owner, during a robbery turned shooting. Littlejohn has accepted responsibility for his role in the robbery but has always said his accomplice was the one who fired the single shot.
"I accept responsibility for what I did but not what they want me to accept responsibility for," Littlejohn said. "They want me to accept that I killed somebody, but I haven't killed somebody."
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Meers family, Littlejohn speak at clemency hearing
The Meers family spoke in support of the state executing Littlejohn, describing Kenneth as a person who was community-minded and willing to help those in need.
"I believe my mom died of a broken heart," Bill Meers, the brother of Kenneth Meers said during the hearing. "I cannot and will not forgive this man for carelessly finding Kenny's life meant nothing."
The family read a letter from Delores Meers, Kenneth, and Bill's mother, written before her death.
"Since this all happened, it just seems as if everything has fallen apart," the letter read. "There are so many times that I just need him to talk to about everything. It just isn't right for a child to go before their parent."
The state, led by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, presented Littlejohn as a multi-time violent offender and put forward testimony from the survivors of the robbery who identified Littlejohn as the shooter.
Lawyers for Littlejohn presented evidence to the board that jurors in a 2000 resentencing trial did not fully understand the sentencing option of life without parole and that the sentence was an outlier for robbery murder when he was originally sentenced.
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."
Spiritual adviser fights for Emmanuel Littlejohn
Littlejohn has been at the center of a clemency campaign led by anti-death penalty activist the Rev. Jeff Hood, 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 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."
In Oklahoma, the Pardon and Parole Board must recommend
Stitt has only granted clemency once during his five years in office and lifted a moratorium on executions in the state in 2020, saying it was time "to deliver accountability and justice to the victims who have suffered unthinkable loss and pain.”
"We have taken what looks like an impossible situation and helped the Pardon and Parole Board understand that mercy is warranted in the case of Emmanuel Littlejohn," Hood said after the clemency hearing. "I hope that mercy is contagious in Oklahoma, I pray that mercy permeates the governor's mansion, the governor's office and anywhere else the governor goes."
Oklahoma attorney general pushes for Littlejohn's execution
The Oklahoma Attorney General's office issued a statement against clemency for Littlejohn last week, saying that he "exhibited selfishness, entitlement and extremely violent behavior throughout his life."
"Emmanuel Littlejohn is a violent and manipulative criminal who refuses to take responsibility for his actions,” Drummond said in the statement. "The family of Kenny Meers has waited 32 long years for justice to be served. The death penalty is the appropriate punishment, and I urge the Pardon and Parole Board to ensure that justice is done."
Both Littlejohn and Hood objected to Drummond's characterization of him.
"Selfish, entitled ? excuse me but I don't get no entitlement to nothing," Littlejohn said. "I'm not entitled."
"They say the same thing every time: there's no humanity, this person is a monster, this person killed," Hood said in an interview with USA TODAY. "To say that about Emanuel Littlejohn is absolutely absurd."
Bill Meers, testified during a 2000 resentencing trial, calling the death sentence, "justice" in response to a taunting statement from Littlejohn after the original death sentence was handed down.
Littlejohn said he understands what Meers' family must be feeling.
"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. "So I understand their emotions and I pray for them. But I didn't kill their son."
What happened in Emmanuel Littlejohn's case?
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 then 20.
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 point to witnesses that said the "taller man" was the shooter, referring to Littlejohn's accomplice, Glenn Bethany.
"This is not a clear case," Hood told USA TODAY previously. "This is a case where we have a number of issues, a number of problems."
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.
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.
"It has long been established that prosecutors may not violate fundamental principles of fairness," one attorney told a federal judge in 2005.
"This is a basic situation in which (the state) got the verdict they wanted with Littlejohn, and they didn't get the verdict they wanted with Bethany," Hood said.
That complaint was repeatedly rejected on appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeals found in 1998 that the prosecutor did not act improperly "given the uncertainty of the evidence."
A federal judge in 2010 found the prosecutor made no outright assertions that Bethany was the shooter at the first trial but instead told jurors that it was their task to determine whether Bethany was guilty of being a participant in the murder or pulling the trigger.
The judge noted that in Littlejohn's trial the prosecutor went further and adamantly asserted that he was the actual shooter.
Pattye High, one of the prosecutors in the original trial, said during the clemency hearing that she believed throughout both trails that that Littlejohn was the shooter.
Littlejohn's execution is currently set to be executed on Sept. 26.
"How can you kill someone and you are unsure that somebody has killed someone?" Hood said. "It's very clear that they're not sure, because they're not saying that in statements. All they're saying is, he's a remorseless killer."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oklahoma death row inmate Emmanuel Littlejohn wants one thing: mercy
