The 9th Execution of 2024
After waiting almost 40 years to be executed, convicted child murderer Richard Norman Rojem Jr. had nothing to say, reported the Oklahoman.
There was no final declaration of innocence Thursday. There
were no expressions of remorse or regret.
On the execution gurney, he mumbled he had no final words.
"I've said my goodbyes," he added.
At 10:03 a.m., the drugs began flowing in the death chamber at
the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. At 10:16 a.m., he was pronounced dead.
Rojem, 66, was executed by lethal injection for murdering
his former stepdaughter, Layla Dawn Cummings, in 1984. She was 7.
Her mother, Mindy Cummings, watched from a witness room.
"We are grateful today for justice served and the peace
of knowing that Richard Rojem can never hurt us or any other person
again," she said in a statement read by Oklahoma's attorney general to the
media.
Rojem was the longest-serving death row inmate in state
history, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. He also was one
of the longest-serving death row inmates in the United States.
His execution was delayed for decades largely because he
twice successfully challenged his punishment. He was resentenced in 2003 and
2007 and did not exhaust his appeals until 2017. At that time, executions were
on hold in Oklahoma.
He was the 13th inmate to be executed since the state
resumed capital punishment in October 2021 after a hiatus of more than six
years.
Executions were put on hold in 2015 because of a series of
issues with the procedure. The first one after the hiatus was widely described
as botched after media witnesses reported the inmate repeatedly convulsed and vomited.
Rojem's execution, though, was the latest to be carried out
without any visible complications. "There were no incidents, issues or
problems," said Steven Harpe, the executive director of the Department of
Corrections.
Tulsa television reporter Reagan Ledbetter described the
execution as very routine. "I've witnessed four of these now. It appeared
to go smooth," he said.
Rojem did not seek any last-minute stays. He maintained all
along that he was innocent.
"I did not kidnap Layla, I did not rape Layla, and I
did not murder her," he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board earlier
this month.
Layla Dawn Cummings was abducted late July 6 or early July 7
in 1984 from an Elk City apartment while her mother was at work at a McDonald's
restaurant. Photos of the kidnapping scene show her doll atop her bed. Her
brother, Jason, then 9, said "Rick" was in the apartment at the time
she was taken, according to testimony from his 1985 trial.
A farmer found her body on the morning of July 7 in a plowed
field near Burns Flat. She had been raped and stabbed.
Rojem, then 26, lived at the time in Burns Flat. He married
the victim's mother while he was in prison in Michigan for sex offenses against
two teenage girls, according to court records. She was the sister of his
cellmate. He came to Oklahoma after being paroled in 1982.
He and Mindy Cummings had been divorced for about two months
at the time of the murder. He had been seeking a reconciliation.
In her statement Thursday, the mother also blamed Rojem for
the death of Layla's father.
"Today, we also honor the memory of Layla and Jason's
father, Don Cummings, who is not with us today due to the absolute evil of a
monster who purposely tormented him to the brink of despair that ended his
life," she said.
Don Cummings committed suicide in Michigan in 1985, writing
in a note, "Maybe now I can rest," according to the AG's office.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who witnessed the
execution, said afterward that his prayer is that "today's action"
brings a sense of comfort to those who loved Layla.
In the death chamber with Rojem was a spiritual adviser, a
Buddhist monk from California. Reverend Master Daishin Yalon stood at Rojem's
feet under the watch of a guard after the execution began. The adviser and
Rojem at least twice spoke to each other before Rojem became unconscious.
Rojem became a Zen Buddhist in prison and was known by other
followers as Daiji, according to his attorneys.
Rojem had his last meal at 5:48 p.m. Wednesday. He had two
small Little Caesars double cheese double pepperoni pizzas and two cups of
vanilla ice cream, corrections officials said. He also had a bottle of Vernors
ginger ale.
The Pardon and Parole Board voted 5-0 on June 17 to deny
Rojem clemency. That vote meant Gov. Kevin Stitt could not commute his sentence
to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Up next is Emmanuel Littlejohn, who was sentenced to death
for the 1992 murder of an Oklahoma City convenience store owner. His execution
has not been scheduled yet but will likely take place in September.
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