• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Child killer on death row has clemency denied in last attempt to stop execution next week

Home> News> Crime

Updated 11:18 19 Jun 2024 GMT+1Published 11:16 19 Jun 2024 GMT+1

Child killer on death row has clemency denied in last attempt to stop execution next week

Richard Rojem has been on death row for almost four decades

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

A death row inmate who kidnapped, raped and murdered a seven-year-old girl has been denied clemency and will be executed next week.

Richard Rojem was sentenced to death for killing his former stepdaughter, Layla Cummings, in 1984.

The seven-year-old's body was discovered mutilated and partially clothed in a field in rural Washita County near the town of Burns Flat.

It was concluded that the child was stabbed to death.

Advert

Rojem, 66, has consistently denied being involved in the murder but has now exhausted his appeals.

His attorneys have argued his innocence, saying that DNA evidence taken from Layla's fingernails did not link him to the murder.

Richard Rojem has been on death row for almost four decades. (Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board)
Richard Rojem has been on death row for almost four decades. (Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board)

“If my client’s DNA is not present, he should not be convicted,” attorney Jack Fisher said.

Advert

He urged Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board to recommend clemency to the governor so the inmate could be spared execution and instead spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The Oklahoman reported that Rojem pleaded with the Board: "An innocent man doesn't ever plead guilty to a crime he hasn't committed. And the reason for that is obvious. If there is justice to be had, it won't be had.

"I wasn't a great human being for the first part of my life.

"And I don't deny that. But I went to prison. I learned my lesson. And I left all that behind."

Advert

However, Governor Kevin Stitt cannot overturn Rojem’s death sentence without a clemency recommendation from the Board.

On Monday (June 17), the Board unanimously denied clemency for Rojem, meaning he is scheduled to be executed via lethal injection on June 27. It is set to be Oklahoma's second execution this year.

Layla Cummings was murdered in 1984. (Oklahoma Attorney General's Office)
Layla Cummings was murdered in 1984. (Oklahoma Attorney General's Office)

Prosecutors say there is other evidence aside from DNA that was used to convict Rojem, including a fingerprint that was found outside Cummings' apartment on a cup from a bar that the death row inmate left just before she was kidnapped.

Advert

A condom wrapper was also found near the girl's body - linked to a used condom found in Rojem’s bedroom, according to prosecutors.

While Cummings' mom was not present before the Board, last month she wrote a letter to the panel, urging them to deny clemency.

As per AP, Mindy Lynn Cummings penned: “Everything she might have been was stolen from her one horrific night.

“She never got to be more than the precious seven year old that she was. And so she remains in our hearts - forever 7.”

Featured Image Credit: Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board/Oklahoma Attorney General's Office

Topics: Crime, Death Row

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
9 hours ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Tragic story of woman who transformed medical research after her cells were unknowingly 'taken' by doctors

    Henrietta Lacks 'is one of many women of color whose bodies have been misused by science'

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Everything we know after mom allegedly helped 13-year-old son plan school shooting 'as a reward for babysitting'

    Ashley Pardo and her son remain in custody facing charges relating to the teenager's plot to commit a massacre on school grounds

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Trump announces eye-watering $200,000,000 White House renovation plans

    And obviously it'll be covered in his favorite color...

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    People are saying Drake has officially 'ruined' viral 'Jet2 holiday' trend with latest social media post

    Drake's participation in the UK trend hasn't been welcomed online

    Music
  • Death Row inmate had last meal request denied for one 'absurd' reason
  • Death row inmate suffered 'excruciating' execution after making brutal 'mistake' with last meal
  • Judge makes ruling on death row inmate’s attempt to delay execution for heinous crime more than 30 years ago
  • What will happen when man on death row has gruelling execution method that hasn’t been used in 15 years