Oklahoma inmate executed for 1992 murder • Oklahoma Voice

OKLAHOMA CITY – Convicted Oklahoma County murderer Emmanuel A. Littlejohn was executed Thursday after Gov. Kevin Stitt refused to grant him a clemency.

“These decisions are very difficult and I do not make them lightly,” Stitt said in a statement after the execution. “Mr. Littlejohn murdered an innocent man during a convenience store robbery 32 years ago.”

Stitt said a jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death. The verdict was upheld by several judges.

“As a governor who stands for law and order, it is difficult for me to unilaterally overturn this decision,” Stitt said. “Today, justice was served for this life lost. I hope this brings closure to the families affected by this murder.”

Littlejohn, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m. Thursday after being given a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, said Kay Thompson, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

The execution was carried out without complications, she said.

Littlejohn was sentenced to death for shooting Kenny Meers during a robbery at an Oklahoma City supermarket in 1992. Meers was shot in the face.

The Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole recommended a clemency on August 7 by a vote of 3 to 2.

Littlejohn said he was involved in the robbery but was not the shooter.

Glenn Bethany was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role.

In 2023, Oklahoma County murderer Phillip Dean Hancock was executed. Stitt took no action on the Board of Pardons' recommendation for clemency.
Don Heath, chairman of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said Stitt's failure to inform Littlejohn until the last minute that he would not grant a pardon was “an unnecessary infliction of emotional distress.”

“This has to stop,” Heath said.