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On Thursday, Oklahoma carried out the execution of a man found guilty of abducting, raping, and murdering his former stepdaughter, a 7-year-old girl named Layla Cummings, in 1984. Richard Rojem, 66, faced lethal injection with a three-drug cocktail at McAlester’s Oklahoma State Penitentiary, marking the end of his legal appeals. Since being imprisoned in 1985, Rojem was Oklahoma’s most longstanding death row inmate.
Rojem, when questioned for final statements while on the execution gurney with an IV in his left arm, said he had no words left, having already bid farewell to his loved ones. The Department of Corrections Director, Steven Harpe, detailed that the execution commenced at 10:03 a.m., with Rojem, alongside a spiritual advisor, turning briefly to the witnesses before the execution drugs were administered. Declared unconscious by 10:08 a.m., Rojem was pronounced dead eight minutes later.
Following these events, the state’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond stated that the execution served justice for Layla Cummings, bringing closure to the nearly four-decade-long suffering of her family. Rojem’s final meal was provided on Wednesday evening, consisting of a Little Caesars pizza, a ginger ale, and two cups of vanilla ice cream.
During his clemency hearing held earlier this month, Rojem, appearing via video from prison, denied any role in the girl’s murder despite his previous convictions for raping two teenagers in Michigan. Allegations suggest his motive stemmed from Cummings reporting his sexual abuse to her mother, leading to his parole violation and arrest.
However, despite his plea and his lawyer’s arguments emphasizing the absence of Rojem’s DNA on evidence collected from the murder scene, the state’s Pardon and Parole Board unanimously rejected clemency. The argument focused on other linking evidence, such as a fingerprint on a cup near Cummings’ apartment and a condom wrapper tied to Rojem’s residence.
Ultimately, after Rojem’s previous death sentences were overturned due to trial errors, a final death verdict was assigned in 2007. Oklahoma, with Rojem’s execution, continues its record of having the highest per capita rate of executions since the nation’s reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Vigils by death penalty opponents were planned at both the governor’s mansion in Oklahoma City and the penitentiary in McAlester on the day of the execution.