Agonizing wait for death row inmate as Oklahomas Governor mulls whether to spare man convicted of 1992 shooting from lethal injection as states prepare to continue execution spree

A death row inmate who denies firing the fatal shot in a convenience store burglary 22 years ago is waiting to learn if his life will be spared after the Oklahoma pardon and parole board recommended his sentence be commuted to life without parole.

Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, is set to die by lethal injection today for his role in the June 1992 murder of Kenneth Meers, 31, at the Root-N-Scoot convenience store in south Oklahoma City.

Meers was killed when Littlejohn, then 20, and co-defendant Glenn Bethany, then 26, robbed the store. He was shot and killed by a single bullet, but both men involved in the robbery were charged and convicted in his murder.

Littlejohn and his attorneys allege that Bethany was the sole shooter in Meers death and have argued that due to inconsistent prosecutions in his case, he should not be executed.

He is now waiting a clemency decision from Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt after the states Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend commuting his sentence to life without parole. Stitt, in his six years as governor, has granted clemency only once and denied recommendations from the parole board in three other cases.

Littlejohns death by lethal injection is scheduled for 10am Thursday, while another execution was set to take place later in the day in Alabama. If both executions are carried out, it would be the first time in decades that five death row inmates were put to death in the US within one week.

Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, (left) is set to die by lethal injection today for his role in the June 1992 murder of Kenneth Meers, 31, at the Root-N-Scoot convenience store in south Oklahoma City. Meers (right) was killed when Littlejohn and co-defendant Glenn Bethany (not pictured) robbed the store. He was shot and killed by a single bullet, but both men involved in the robbery were charged and convicted in his murder

Littlejohn is now waiting a clemency decision from Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt (pictured in August 2024) after the states Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend commuting his sentence to life without parole. Stitt, in his six years as governor, has granted clemency only once and denied recommendations from the parole board in three other cases

Oklahoma is preparing to execute Littlejohn, who has exhausted his appeals, on Thursday while the inmate awaits a clemency decision from Stitt.

Littlejohn was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in 1994 for his role in Meers death. Bethany was also convicted of first-degree murder and in 1993 sentenced to life without parole. 

Both men could be charged with the crime because of the felony murder statute, which allows anyone charged with a violent felony to also be charged with murder if the crime resulted in death. 

Littlejohn, during video testimony to the Pardon and Parole Board last month, apologized to Meers family for his death - but denied firing the fatal shot. 

His attorneys pointed out that the same prosecutor tried Bethany and Littlejohn in separate trials using a nearly identical theory, even though there was only one shooter and one bullet that killed Meers.

But prosecutors told the board that two teenage store employees who witnessed the robbery both said Littlejohn, not Bethany, fired the fatal shot. 

Littlejohns attorneys also argued that killings resulting from a robbery are rarely considered death penalty cases and that prosecutors today would not have pursued the ultimate punishment.

It is evident that Emmanuel would not have been sentenced to death if hed been tried in 2024 or even 2004, attorney Caitlin Hoeberlein told the board.

Augustina Sanders hugs Kim Ludwig, a paralegal in the Federal Public Defenders Office in Oklahoma City, after the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-2 to recommend clemency for Sanders brother, Emmanuel Littlejohn, on August 7, 2024

Littlejohn was prosecuted by former Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy, who was known for his zealous pursuit of the death penalty and secured 54 death sentences during more than 20 years in office.

Because of the boards 3-2 recommendation, Stitt has the option of commuting Littlejohns sentence to life in prison without parole. The governor has appointed three of the boards members.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Stitt said the governor had met with prosecutors and Littlejohns attorneys but had not reached a decision. 

In 2021, Stitt granted clemency to Julius Jones, commuting his sentence to life without parole just hours before Jones was scheduled to receive a lethal injection. 

He denied clemency recommendations from the board for Bigler Stouffer, James Coddington and Phillip Hancock, all of whom were executed.

Littlejohns execution, which was scheduled for 10am at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, would make him the 14th person put to death in Oklahoma under Stitts administration.

Littlejohns execution is scheduled for 10am today at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. If it is carried out, Littlejohn will be the 14th person put to death in the state under Stitts administration (file photo)

Alan Eugene Miller, 59, (pictured) is set to be executed Thursday in Alabama for the 1999 murders of three of his co-workers when he gunned them down over rumors about his sexuality. Miller will be the second inmate executed via nitrogen gas hypoxia

It comes as Alan Eugene Miller, 59, is set to be executed Thursday in Alabama for the 1999 murders of three of his co-workers when he gunned them down over rumors about his sexuality. 

Miller will be the second inmate executed via nitrogen gas hypoxia despite the first attempt being described as torture and the most violent execution in modern US history. 

Unless there is a last-minute stay of execution, he will be strapped to the same gurney as Kenneth Eugene Smith, who endured the first nitrogen execution in January. 

Smith was said to have thrashed and retched against his restraints for a horrific 22-minute ordeal, as a firefighters-style mask placed over his face filled with 100 percent nitrogen gas that suffocated him to death. 

The executions in Oklahoma and Alabama would make for 1,600 executions nationwide since the death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court in 1976, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

The executions in Oklahoma and Alabama would make for 1,600 executions nationwide since the death penalty was reinstated by the US Supreme Court in 1976. It will also mark the first time since July 2003 that five executions were held within a period of seven days (file photo of the gurney in the the execution chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary)

South Carolina executed inmate Freddie Owens, 46, (left) last Friday. Marcellus Williams, 55, (center) was executed in Missouri on Tuesday. That same day Travis Mullis, 38, (right) was put to death in Huntsville, Texas

It will also mark the first time in more than 20 years - since July 2003 - that five executions were held within a period of seven days.

The first took place Friday when South Carolina executed inmate Freddie Owens, 46. He was sentenced to death for the 1997 killing of a convenience store clerk during a robbery.

Marcellus Williams, 55, was executed in Missouri on Tuesday for the 1998 killing of Felicia Gayle. That same day Travis Mullis, 38, was put to death in Huntsville, Texas for stomping his three-month-old son, Alijah Mullis, to death in 2008.

In Oklahoma, an appellate court on Wednesday denied a last-minute legal challenge to the constitutionality of the states lethal injection method of execution.