Oklahoma AG requests OCCA to set next execution date

Derrick James, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·2 min read

Jul. 3—The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office requested the state's appellate court to schedule the next execution in September, in line with their approved plan to conduct executions every 90 days.

The AG's Office is asking the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set the execution of Emmanual Littlejohn for Sept. 26, 2024, which will be the first Thursday following the expiration of 90-days since the June 27, 2024, execution of Richard Rojem.

"Littlejohn is inmate next eligible for execution," the office wrote in a notice regarding execution of death warrant filed with OCCA.

Littlejohn, 52, was convicted and sentenced to death by an Oklahoma County jury in 1994 for the 1992 shooting death of Kenneth Meers during a robbery at an Oklahoma City convenience store.

He was convicted for the death of Meers under Oklahoma's felony-murder statute that states a person commits murder when that person or another person takes the life of a human during, or if the death of a human being results from, the commission of an underlying felony.

He maintains Glenn Bethany fired the shot that killed Meers.

Bethany was also convicted of first-degree murder and robbery and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Littlejohn was sentenced to 300 years for the robbery and 99 years for conspiracy and he said he accepts the consequences for being a part of the robbery.

"I've been down here 31 years, and the truth hasn't set me free," Littlejohn said in an interview with the News-Capital in 2023. "And I don't expect to be free. I'm here facing the death penalty and I didn't kill nobody. How is that fair?"

He was originally scheduled to be executed on Nov. 2, 2023, prior to the AG's office asking for more time in between executions to lessen the workload on Oklahoma Department of Corrections employees.

When asked if he was scared of death, Littlejohn said he was, but it was also hard to be scared of something you haven't experienced.

"It's like a roller coaster. I ain't ever faced death and nobody has ever came back and told me what it's like; all I know is that there ain't no coming back," Littlejohn said. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

No ruling from OCCA on the setting of Littlejohn's execution date was available as of Tuesday.