Clemency!

​October 28, 2024

 

Books are strange things.  Words cannot be strung together until life has been lived to birth the reality of a new narrative.  I wish that I didn’t have the lived experience to construct this book.  I wish that Emmanuel Littlejohn had lived.  I wish that I’d been able to save him.  I worked as hard as I possibly could.  After telling him how much I love him, I watched the State of Oklahoma kill him.  I failed him.  While it’s important to tell the story of what happened, I wish this book didn’t exist.

 

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

 

 

January 15, 2023

 

Emmanuel Littlejohn: To Be Executed in November for Killing Nobody

 

“I didn’t kill nobody!”  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard it before.  One of the hazards of working with guys on death row is that you catch more than your fair share of bullshit.  Most of the time such talk doesn’t pan out.  Most folk on death row have committed heinous crimes.  That doesn’t mean they should be executed but it does mean that the phrase “I didn’t kill nobody!” isn’t often accurate.  Yet, in the case of Emmanuel Littlejohn such a phrase doesn’t seem to be too far off.

 

Emmanuel Littlejohn is no saint.  On June 19, 1992, Littlejohn partnered with Glenn Bethany to rob the Root-N-Scoot convenience store in Oklahoma City.  The fear that the three people working in the store must have been palpable.  “Get on the ground!”  “Give me all your money!”  “Nobody move!”  Most of us have heard the phrases before on television or in the movies…but hearing them live must have been different.  What would cause someone to do such a thing?  Youth.  Poverty.  Desperation.  The reasons are numerous.  The result was tragedy.

 

As Bethany and Littlejohn rushed out the door.  Bethany fired a shot.  The bullet struck Kenneth Meers in the face.  The shot was enough to end his life.  I’ve often wondered about that shot.  What was the point?  Weren’t they already getting away?  Life isn’t fair.  Meers didn’t deserve that.  Nobody does.

 

The absurdity of it all continued at trial.  Bethany took a deal.  Littlejohn was sentenced to death.  How is such at outcome possible?  Littlejohn didn’t kill nobody.  Bethany was the one who fired the shot.  In a society determined to kill, truth doesn’t matter.

 

Throughout decades of appeals, the record has repeatedly suggested that Littlejohn didn’t kill nobody.  So why is society so determined to kill him?  The only reason that I can think of is vengeance.  How can we build an ethical society based on vengeance?  We can’t.  Such activity can only perpetuate the hell we’re already living in.

 

While I’m sure there are countless reasons to save the life of Emmanuel Littlejohn, one seems to stick out the most…he didn’t kill nobody.

 

 

February 16, 2023

 

 

The Emmanuel Littlejohn Tapes: A Summary

 

 

*This is a summarization of an extended interview/podcast conducted with Emmanuel Littlejohn about his life and case.

 

Full podcast located @ https://open.spotify.com/show/4zqmTtVJzyggmitxwyg9tV

 

 

I didn’t have to do anything…although sometimes it felt like I did.  We all make choices in life.  I made some bad ones.  But at the end of the day, I’m the one that has had to live with those choices.  So, I guess I’m just not interested in placing blame anywhere else.  I was a part of a robbery that led to the murder of Kenneth Meers…and for that I am deeply sorry.  With that said, I also want to make something very clear…I didn’t kill that man…I was not the shooter…though I feel remorse for my part.  Let me explain…

 

My partner and I was slinging dope.  We would get the dope from the dealer and sell it on the streets.  Again, I made some bad choices.  In the midst of it all, my partner was sneaking around and smoking the dope.  So when it came time to pay the dealer, we didn’t have enough money.  The dealer looked at us and made it very clear that he was going to kill us if we didn’t come up with the money quick.  So my partner suggested that we rob the little store down the street.  I hesitated.  But what was I supposed to do?

 

So we went down there…and proceeded to rob the joint.  Everything seemed to be going off smoothly.  Then I saw somebody coming out the back of the store.  “Look out!”  My partner turned around and shot back into the store.  I didn’t see what happened.  I just ran.  Everybody up and down the street saw what happened.  I don’t know what I was thinking being involved in some foolishness like that.

 

We kept going.  Then, we made it back up to the apartment.  When we got there, somebody said, “The man at the store died.”  My heart dropped to the floor.  I couldn’t believe it.  I felt horrible…and I knew I was fucked.  So that night, I ran.  I guess everybody runs home to momma when things get rough…and that’s exactly what I did.

 

As soon as I got home up in Kansas, I told her what happened.  We robbed the place and the man died.  Sometime around there I found out his name was Kenneth Meers.  I felt like shit.  There were two other people there.  There was the cat running the cash register.  Then there was a young boy outside sweeping the parking lot.  I remember all of them so vividly.

 

The police didn’t catch up to me for about a week.  My partner had gotten arrested a few days prior.  His fingerprints were all over the store…because he was the main guy.  Hell, he was the one who had smoked all the dope in the first place.  Well, then the police showed up at my grandma’s house.  They kicked her door in.  When they didn’t find me there, they started heading toward my mom’s house.  My grandmamma would have warned us but my mom didn’t have no phone. Then, I heard them knocking.

 

Immediately, I was like damn.  Earlier, my mom had bought me a ticket to go to Seattle…but I never made that trip.  Honestly, I thought it was one of my cousins…but it turned out to be the police.  They asked who I was.  I lied and said my cousin’s name.  Then, another officer brought in a picture of me from Oklahoma.  It’s hard to get away when they are sitting there with a picture that looks just like you.  Then, they drew their guns.  The game was up.

 

I was so angry with myself.  How could I have done something so heartless and dumb?  I hurt so many people.

 

I got interrogated there in Wichita.  The police came up from Oklahoma.  They kept telling me that I was going to get the death penalty.  I was shocked.  How in the hell can somebody get the death penalty when they didn’t even kill nobody?  By the time I got back to Oklahoma City, the police done lost the tape of the first interrogation.  So, I had to do it all over again.  I mean…how does a tape come up missing like that?

 

The first time I talked to a lawyer was when I got back to Oklahoma.  Of course, he told me to quit talking.  But I didn’t listen.  I wanted everybody to know that I didn’t kill nobody.  One of the witnesses clearly stated that the tallest one fired the shots.  My partner was half a foot taller than me.  I wanted to make sure that everybody knew this fact.

 

A few months later, they put my partner on trial.  The entire proceeding the prosecution declared that he was the shooter.  Ultimately, the jury found him guilty.  Then, they spared him of the death penalty.

 

Then, I went on trial.  I was shocked when they declared that I was the actual shooter.  I mean there was only one gun being fired one time as we were going out the door.  How in the hell can there be two shooters?  My lawyers protested…but the judge said that the prosecutor could offer different theories of what happened.  I couldn’t believe it.  They were getting to have their cake and eat it too right in front of me.

 

Did you know I waited on that trial for four years?  Delay after delay.  Stall tactic after stall tactic.  I think they thought I was going to tell somebody in the jail that I was the shooter.  They were greatly mistaken.  I didn’t shoot nobody…and I wasn’t going to take the fall for somebody who did.

 

I couldn’t believe they kept on talking about the death penalty.  I kept telling anybody who would listen that I didn’t kill nobody.  I robbed a store.  That’s it.  While I am so sorry about what happened to Mr. Meers, I didn’t kill him.  There was one time that I saw my codefendant at the jail.  We almost came to blows…because I was demanding that he tell the truth.  That was the last time that we ever spoke.

 

I didn’t have enough money to pay for any attorneys that were worth a shit.  So, I was stuck just waiting on these cats.  I was a poor black man with no hope.  I was simply stuck at the will of the system.  Even amidst all the bullshit, I still believed that there was no way that I was going to be convicted of murder.  They had no evidence…and I knew that I didn’t kill anybody.  Then, they offered my 45 years for robbery.  That was a tough decision…but ultimately I decided I wasn’t going to do that much time for no robbery.  Now, I wish that I’d taken that deal.  With time adjusted for behavior, I would have only had to do 32 years.  Hell, I’d be getting out right about now.

 

During the trial, the prosecutor tried to act like the witnesses didn’t know what they were talking about.  These were their own witnesses.  Then, they tried to act like there were all these aggravated circumstances.  How could there have been all these circumstances?  I was just a teenager when all of this happened.  But it didn’t seem like anybody was standing up for me.  The only black folks in the room were my family and I.  Imagine any sort of fairness coming from such a room.  Can you imagine how alone I felt?  They said I would get a jury of my peers…but I can assure you that wasn’t the case.

 

They kept calling the fact that they pursued both of us for being the shooter alternative theories of prosecution.  I called them lies.  My lawyer thought we were going to win.  It was at that point that I realized that he was crazier than I thought he was.  Even after they found me guilty, I figured I was going to get life without parole. I was shocked when they said death.  I knew I hadn’t killed nobody.

 

Everybody I met when I first got down here is gone.  Over the years, there have been a few moments of hope in my case…but for the most part…everything has been about death.  I’ve watched so many people die.  I used to get to go to church.  Now, I can’t even do that.  Ronald Boyd was one of my closest friends…but they killed him too.  Imagine…31 years of no hope.  The lawyers seem to get worse and worse with each passing year.  They more concerned with being buddies with each other than they are fighting for us.  They’re just comfortable letting people die.  I mean these folks trying to kill me ain’t my friends.  I ain’t trying to win no popularity contest.   I’m more concerned with living than I am being liked.  You hear me?

 

Over the years, I’ve become sort of an elder down here.  I do what I can to try to help as many people as I can.  Though I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, I’ve always tried to do right by people.  Even those who are trying to kill me, I don’t wish them ill…I just don’t want them to kill me.  So, here I sit…trying to do a little good with the days that I have left.

 

 

May 4, 2023

 

Words from Oklahoma’s Death Row:  Emmanuel Littlejohn on the Richard Glossip Moment

 

 

Late last night, I got this message from Emmanuel Littlejohn.  He is one of the guys in Oklahoma that I work most closely with.  The background of this message is that Littlejohn was part of a robbery where a convenience store clerk was killed (in fact, his accomplice fired the shot without his knowledge).  Although he didn’t kill anyone, he was convicted under a type of law known as “the law of parties.”  Meaning that anyone who participates in a crime that kills someone is eligible for the death penalty.  Littlejohn’s message below (printed entirely with a few explanatory additions) speaks of his frustration at the current attention that Richard Glossip’s case is getting…not because Glossip doesn’t deserve it (Littlejohn thinks that Glossip is unquestionably innocent of murder and deserves to be spared)…but rather because there are others who deserve it too.

 

 

jeff, what's up bro? not a lot here just a lot of the same be that is usual for Oklahoma the thought that they would go ahead with a execution of a man who is not the killer! ain't that a bitch? but anyway I'm writing this below and I won't you to get it out to the public if you think its correct! convicted and sentenced at conception! As I have languished here in this 4-walled concrete tomb of solitude and desolation called death row. I have come to truly embrace and come to grips with the very real heart- wrenching possibility that I may one day die by a state- endorsed, state endorsed execution. in the name of a so- called justice system, that has never gave a person of color justice of any sort! and as hard as it is for me to accept these facts and comprehend, I have stood steadfast for the last 32 years with my fist clenched, and wiped the last tears from my eyes! but even as I do this, I am forced to confront and answer some harsh soul shattering questions! such as: how did this happen? who's to blame? and most of all what factors in my life lead to this spot? now as far as who's to blame? I could blame a society that indicts, convicts, and sentences a black man the charge of being black and being born in America! or I could say that it was the cesspool or the environment that I raised in that caused me to be who I am! so I can place blame here or there, but when it’s all said and done, the person to blame is me! Mr Manuel Lorenzo Ashantee Littlejohn and as a man I will always accept the consequences for MY actions! I have been on death row for 32 years and I have killed no one but the state of Oklahoma says I deserve to die, YET I see TONS of high placed people on TV saying that another guy down here didn't kill and that he doesn't deserve to die! I don't know his case and won't speak on it, but I'll say this, how many other men are on death row and have not killed anyone? how many have been killed? it’s not right!! how would you feel if one of your loved ones was to be killed and had not killed anyone? but it’s not fair because it’s not one of your loved ones! wrong is wrong! so if you are reading these words and they have touched you in some way! I plead with you to join me in pleading my case, if you feel the wrongness of this (my case getting no attention and the current high profile case getting all the attention) stand with me, fight with me! Jeff,I won't you to go over this and add what you won't to give it more impact! we have to put a stop to this shit that Oklahoma is engaging in, there is no clemency in Oklahoma the system is rigged!! sincerely manuel

 

 

October 22, 2023

 

“Stop being nice.  Jesus raised hell!”:  OK Death Row Inmate Emmanuel Littlejohn on John 2:13-17

 

 

Jesus tossed all those rich folks out of the temple because they were hustling poor folk.  That shit was gangster.  Flipping over tables.  Using a whip to drive all those folks out.  Made out of chords?!?!  Those folks didn’t walk out of there.  They ran.  Didn’t they?  Jesus wasn’t interested in any dialogue.  He wanted them out.  He wanted them out now.  Jesus threw out the money changers.  He didn’t toss them gently aside.  In the end, people believed because Jesus was a badass.

 

Don’t try to turn Jesus into a damn hippie.  Jesus was tough.  Jesus took on injustice.  Jesus didn’t give them no damn flowers.  Jesus threw them out.

 

Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything.  Jesus was ready to die to do the right thing.  If you want to fight for justice, sometimes your life is going to be necessary.  Because people are definitely going to want to kill you.  People get mad when you start messing with their money.  Jesus didn’t care.  Justice was more important than money.  The fight for justice is eternal…money will rot away.

 

The most effective people in advocacy are the ones who act like Jesus did.  They put their bodies into the conversation.  They put their health into the conversation.  They put their well-being into the conversation.  Advocacy without sacrifice isn’t advocacy…it’s just talk.

 

Jesus was at war.  Sometimes these advocates want to all be friends with the powers that be in the system.  I ain’t got no reason to be friends.  We’re at war.  Those who want to kill me are my enemies.  How could they not be?  My very life is on the line.

 

I had one dumbass lawyer tell me, “After you’re executed…I still got to work with these people.”  I ran from that cat as quickly as possible.  Though it took me a minute, I got away from him.  I knew he wasn’t going to do anything but get me killed.  I needed some folks to help me who weren’t afraid to overturn some tables.  If you are friends with somebody who wants to kill me…then you clearly aren’t my friend.

 

Sometimes you’ve got to tear things up.  Sometimes you have to cause a ruckus.  Sometimes you have to cause an uproar.  That’s the nature of the message of Jesus.

 

Stop being nice.  Jesus raised hell!

 

 

May 15, 2024

 

Emmanuel Littlejohn: The Official Narrative of an Injustice

 

Through interaction over a number of months, Oklahoma Death Row inmate Emmanuel Littlejohn constructed this narrative with his spiritual advisor the Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood to let people know that he didn’t kill anybody and certainly doesn’t deserve to be executed. 

 

 

“Underwhelming.”  That’s how Emmanuel Littlejohn described his initial interactions with Glenn Bethany at Joseph Harp Correctional Center in the early 1990s.  The two really didn’t get to know each other at all.  “I just knew him from a distance.  Honestly, I really wasn’t all that interested in getting to know him.”  Littlejohn was focused on getting out as quickly as possible, not making new buddies.  Eventually, he did get out, but quickly returned to his old ways.  By the time Littlejohn encountered Bethany again (1992), they were at the Ambassador Courts Apartments in Oklahoma City, “getting high and drunk.”  Littlejohn looked right at Bethany and declared, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”  The interaction led the two to become business colleagues of a sort.  One of the local drug dealers enlisted them to help him sell dope in the neighborhood.   The two got to work.  Late one night, Littlejohn and Bethany returned to bring back the earnings to the drug dealer.  It quickly became apparent that Bethany was short close to $300.  Looking at Littlejohn, Bethany admitted to smoking most of his dope.  The drug dealer said that he was going to kill them both if he didn’t get his money.  Littlejohn said his options were limited, “What would you do?  The fastest way I knew to get money was to rob somebody.  We had to do what we had to do to survive.  I wish it hadn’t been like that, but it was.”

For multiple hours, Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany surveyed the streets for a place to rob.  Some stores were too crowded.  Some stores had security.  Some stores were too close to other stores.  Eventually, the two settled on a small store called, “Root-n-Scoot.”  Parking a block away, Littlejohn and Bethany got out of the car.  “We thought that the block distance would create some distance between us and the crime.”  As they walked toward the store, Littlejohn had his gun fully displayed and Bethany had his hidden.  Upon entering the store, Littlejohn pointed his gun at the clerk Tony Hulsey and demanded the contents of the register.  Bethany screamed loudly, “Give me the money!  Give me the money!  Give me the money!”  Littlejohn recalled in vivid detail, “From outside the store, it appeared that Husley was the only person in the store.  Even when we were in the store, it seemed like this was going to be an easy score.  That is, until it wasn’t.”  Bethany kept demanding more money.  Littlejohn was ready to get out of there.  They already had more than enough.  Then, Bethany screamed, “Look out!”

Kenneth Meers appeared from the back of the store.  Both Littlejohn and Bethany had no idea that he was there.  It looked like he was carrying a shotgun.  Immediately, Bethany opened the door and Littlejohn ran out.  “I was doing my best to get my ass to the car.  I wasn’t interested in shooting nobody.  I wasn’t interested in getting shot.”  Meers kept coming and Bethany fired back into the store on the way out.  Witnesses that lived directly across the street described Bethany as the shooter.  “We weren’t sure exactly what happened when we both got back to the car.  Neither one of us thought that anybody was going to end up dead.”  Not long after, word reached both Littlejohn and Bethany that Meers was dead.  “Immediately, I went to Bethany and declared, ‘You killed dude?’  I didn’t understand why anybody would be that dumb.  It was just senseless.  We already had the money.  He was like, ‘oh well.’  I knew I had to get out of town as quickly as possible.”  Before Littlejohn left, his girlfriend encouraged him to kill Bethany.  “She was convinced that Bethany was going to try to pin it all on me.  She was right.”  Littlejohn took off to his mom’s house in Wichita, Kansas.  Three days later, the police caught up with Littlejohn and informed him that Bethany was trying to pin it all on him.  Littlejohn vividly remembers his first thought in the back of the police cruiser, “I should have listened to my girlfriend.”

Prosecutors pursued murder charges against Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany separately.  Meaning, they were able to advance a different theory of what happened at each trial.  In Littlejohn’s trial, they argued that Littlejohn was the actual shooter.  In Bethany’s trial, they argued that Bethany was the actual shooter.  Prosecutors plainly stated that there weren’t two shooters, yet they argued that two different people were the shooter.  “At Bethany’s trial, they spent the entire time arguing that I wasn’t the shooter.  When people ask me how I can prove that I wasn’t the shooter, I just tell them to listen to the arguments that were presented at Bethany’s trial.”  Even though prosecutors made similar one shooter arguments to secure convictions against Littlejohn and Bethany, only Littlejohn received the death penalty. The sentence was handed down over 30 years ago, in 1994.  In the coming months, Littlejohn is scheduled to be executed.  Bethany is serving a life sentence.  How is such discrepancy fair?  The State of Oklahoma is about to execute Littlejohn for killing Kenneth Meers after they spent an entire trial (that of Bethany) arguing he didn’t actually kill him.

“I am about to be killed for never having killed anyone.  I shouldn’t have been there.  I shouldn’t have taken part in any of it.  I was young and dumb.  I’ve repeatedly apologized to the Meers family.  But it doesn’t make sense for Bethany to get a life sentence and for me to get the death penalty.  Right before trial, prosecutors offered me a life sentence with parole.  They knew I wasn’t the shooter.  None of the witnesses said I was the shooter.  I’d be out by now!  But I knew I didn’t shoot anybody.  Damnit!  I ain’t going to say that I killed Kenneth Meers when I know I didn’t.”

 

 

August 6, 2024

 

Trepidation in Oklahoma: On Clemency & Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

For over two years, I’ve served as Emmanuel Littlejohn’s spiritual advisor.  To say that I’ve come to love him would probably be an understatement.  Far from the bloody caricatures most make of those on death row, I’ve found in Emmanuel an older man with a big heart.  From time to time, humanity can still surprise us.  Then again, it’s important to remember that such surprises can only find us when we open our hearts to their possibility.  Many months ago, Emmanuel approached me about my thoughts on the clemency process.  When someone you love confides in you, you’ve got to tell them the truth.  Sometimes it hurts.

 

“Emmanuel, clemency is a lie in Oklahoma.”  We have seen it repeatedly. Even if someone gets a favorable vote from the Board, the chances that someone will actually get clemency from the Governor is microscopic at best.  So, why would anyone advise someone that they love to participate in a process that offers a glimmer of hope that is consistently pulverized?

 

“Emmanuel, the State will destroy you.”  There are no rules in these hearings.  The State can say whatever they want.  In that room, there are no objections or corrections or restraints.  The State will do everything they can do to monsterize you and make sure that you don’t get clemency under any circumstance.  On multiple occasions, I have seen the State resort to lies to achieve the desired result…death.  So, why would anyone advise someone they love to participate in a process that will only rough them up and take away from the precious life that they have left?

 

“Emmanuel, life is more than preservation.”  The message of Jesus is clear.  Those who spend all the time that they have trying to save their life will lose the life that they have left.  Tremendous amounts of emotional and physical energy are expended trying to prepare for the clemency process.  For what?  There are things worse than death.  Namely, subjecting oneself to an added punishment on top of the punishment of death that one has already received.  The clemency process has become an added dagger at the end of the life…intended to exact as much extra blood and pain as possible.  So, why would anyone advise someone they love to submit themselves to such torture?

 

Though he had reservations, Emmanuel made the decision to engage the clemency process.  Not because he thinks it’s fair, but rather because he wants to make sure that the world hears him loudly proclaim that he didn’t kill Kenneth Meers.  I can accept that.  There is liberation in the opportunity to tell the world your truth.

 

So, here we are.  The clemency hearing is just hours away.  I don’t suspect that the process will be fair or ultimately generative.  Then again, maybe hearts will shift?  It’s important for a person of faith to believe that such shifting is possible.  I’m trying.  Indeed...against my better judgment...I've tried to help Emmanuel keep hope too.  Regardless of what is to come, I trust that Emmanuel will share his truth...the truth that he did not kill Kenneth Meers.  In our conversations, we’ve prayed for all parties involved…that they might know the truth…and that the truth might set them free.

 

 

August 6, 2024

 

“Eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth”

 

 

“Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”  The abbreviation of the Book of Exodus 21:24 is a favorite for those who support the death penalty.  So much so, that the verse regularly even gets recited by those trying to justify their ownparticipation in executions.  The logic of course is that if you kill someone then you deserve to be killed.  On the inverse, the logic is that if you don’t kill someone then you don’t deserve to be killed.  Pretty basic stuff, right?  The State of Oklahoma seems to literally live and die by such logic.  But what if I told you that there is someone scheduled for execution who quite possibly has taken no eyes or no teeth?  In fact, even prosecutors remain admittedly unsureif whether the person they’re trying to execute actually killed anyone or not.

Though tragic, the events that transpired are rather simple.  Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany were desperate to continue funding out of control drug habits.  Realizing that the Root-N-Scoot convenience store had a check cashing component, the two guys decided that it was the perfect hit to score a bunch of cash.  So, on June 19, 1992, they proceeded to rob the business on the Southside of Oklahoma City.  Upon entering the store, they turned their guns on the clerk at the desk. From the back, store owner Kenneth Meers charged at them with a broom.  Witnesses across the street described the taller shoplifter as having fired the fatal shot that killed Meers.  The taller man was Glenn Bethany.  Regardless of whether one believes such eyewitnesses or not, a few things are clear…  There was only one shot fired.  There was only one shooter.

For his part, Glenn Bethany was convicted of the murder of Kenneth Meersand sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  At trial, prosecutors argued that Bethany was the shooter.  Later, prosecutors tried Emmanuel Littlejohn twice and argued that he was the shooter each time.  Again, prosecutors said that there was only one shooter, yet they tried two people for being that one shooter.  Littlejohn was also convicted of the murder of Kenneth Meers.  Yet, prosecutors convinced a jury to sentence Littlejohn to death.  How is it possible that there is one shooter and two people were convicted of being that one shooter and one gets life and the other gets death?  Shouldn’t the fundamental principle of “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth”apply?  It would seem that you can’t start taking eyes and teeth from people who have taken no eyes or teeth.  There was only one shooter. In both trials prosecutors argued that that man was the shooter.  Yet, there was only one shooter.  The death penalty should have never even been an option for either man in such circumstances.  How in the world could anyone know that they are taking the right eyes or teeth in such a situation?

While Glenn Bethany still sits in prison, Emmanuel Littlejohn is scheduled to be executed September 26.  Shouldn’t basic fairness be the fundamental principle that guides our justice system?  What is fair about executing someone who very possibly has never killed anyone?  Multiple courts have agreed that the evidence is uncertain.  But such courts have also said that Littlejohn’s involvement is enough to warrant a death sentence.  I guess they’ve never heard of an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”

Societies that self-righteously claim to be following God’s law while doing the opposite are at the apex of hypocrisy.  I don’t believe that Emmanuel Littlejohn killed Kenneth Meers.  But such belief shouldn’t matter.  We are told that the death penalty is for the “worst of the worst.”  Yet, Oklahoma is about to execute someone that prosecutors themselves argued wasn’t the actual shooter(in Bethany’s trial).  Courts have repeatedly questioned the evidence.  Littlejohn doesn’t need your sympathy.  He simply needs you to live by your oft-stated mantra, “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”  Under such words, one has to be certain someone took some eyes or teeth.  In this case, there is no way you can be.  Those most closely connected to this case still aren’t.  If the State of Oklahoma kills Emmanuel Littlejohn on September 26, the thing that the State should be honest about is that it really doesn’t believe in an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”

There are too many remaining questions to justify the taking of any “eyes or teeth” from Emmanuel Littlejohn.  But if you kill him and he didn’t actually kill Mr. Meers, I guess it will be time to start coming for your “eyes and teeth” next.

 

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

Spiritual Advisor to Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

 

August 18, 2024

 

Clemency for Emmanuel Littlejohn: An Open Letter to Governor Kevin Stitt

 

Dear Governor Kevin Stitt,

 

There are hours that try our souls.  We don’t necessarily know what to do.  We are left to exist in a place where only the most fervent of prayers will do.  Presently, I exist in such a space.  Throughout my days, I’m haunted by the possibility that you might not choose to grant clemency to a soul under my care, Emmanuel Littlejohn.

 

When I considered how to make this appeal to you, I thought about trying to do what a lawyer or a mitigator or judge or any number of other professionals might and give you all the favorable facts, figures and arguments.  But such efforts have little meaning when one is searching for the voice of God.  One could give me a whole world of evidence…but the verifiable undeniable voice of God reigns supreme.  I suspect the same is true with you. 

 

Just a few years ago, I was surprised at the boldness of your words.

 

“Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name of Jesus...”

 

*https://x.com/profsamperry/status/1590858225897066496?lang=en

 

Honestly, I thought you might have just gotten a little carried away.  Maybe exaggerated?  But in speech after speech, you’ve made it crystal clear that you’re determined to fiercely dedicate the State of Oklahoma  and your administration to Jesus.  With regard to your upcoming clemency decision for Littlejohn, I hope your still dedicated.  If so, there is absolutely no way that Littlejohn will be executed.  The voice of God has already spoken on this matter.

 

You remember the story.  In the scriptures, Jesus only attended one execution other than his own.

 

Early one morning, people started to gather around Jesus.

 

Officials brought someone who’d committed a capital offense to Jesus.  The officials loudly declared, “We’re commanded to stone those who commit such offenses!  What do you say?”

 

They asked these questions to test and see if Jesus was who he claimed to be.  But Jesus refused to answer.  Instead, Jesus simply bent down and started writing in the dirt.  The officials refused to stop.  Then Jesus declared, “Let any of you who is without sin throw the first stone.”  Again, he stooped down and wrote in the ground.

 

The officials left in shame.  Then, Jesus looked to the condemned and said, “Go and sin no more.”

 

Jesus was the arbiter of clemency.  Indeed…in the Book of John (of course paraphrased from 8:1-11), Jesus made it crystal clear who he’s standing with (or for that matter who he is stooping down in the dirt with).  The story is about a woman caught in adultery (a capital offense in his day), but it could just as easily be written about Emmanuel Littlejohn.

 

Think about it.

 

I don’t doubt that you yearn as I do to hear the verifiable undeniable voice of God.  While I believe that we can hear in all sorts of ways, I think that scripture does still speak to our present hour.  Jesus’ ministrations of clemency in an hour of execution speak.

 

I’ve prayed many hours over this very passage.  It’s almost as if God has taken me there from time to time.  The ideations have been so visceral that it’s as if the dirt is still on my feet when I open my eyes.  When the story is juxtaposed with the present desperation facing Littlejohn, a simple truth emerges.

 

Jesus makes it clear that one can either do the slaying or the praying.

 

But you can’t do both.

 

When the clemency decision arose, Jesus got in the dirt with the condemned.

 

Too often, we think that decisions to save another are based on the preparation of the person to be saved or whether someone deserves to be saved or whether someone is ready to be saved or on all sorts of other variables.  In Romans 5:8, the Apostle Paul turns such thinking on its’ head, “Jesus died for all of us…Jesus saved all of us…while we were yet sinners.”  I do believe that on a temporal and celestial level Littlejohn is included in that number.  Governor, I am asking you to see Emmanuel Littlejohn as Jesus would…a child of God worthy of dying for.  Of course, I’m not asking you to die for anybody.  I’m simply asking that you live for Jesus.  I’m simply asking that you share the mercy that you have known. 

 

Governor, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.  Littlejohn is a sinner just like you.  In the economy of God, the two of you are not different…sinners desperately in need of grace.

 

In this desperate hour of clemency, Governor you have a chance to show the world what our faith is all about.

 

Clemency.

 

With the utmost sincerity.

 

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

Spiritual Advisor, Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

 

August 19, 2024

 

In the coming days, Emmanuel Littlejohn’s attorneys will be presenting a final case for clemency to Governor Kevin Stitt.  To be honest, I’m shocked that we’ve made it this far.  Never in a million years would I have thought that the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board would vote to recommend clemency for Littlejohn.  Of course, such a recommendation did not happen by accident.  In addition to powerful arguments made by Littlejohn’s attorneys, I led a campaign (which included a vast network of participants) that produced a documentary, erected billboards throughout Oklahoma City and delivered hundreds upon hundreds of communications to the Pardon and Parole Board.  Repeatedly, I’ve been told that the recommendation would have never happened if not for our activism.  God showed me something that day.  Hope can always make a way.  So, I remain a captive of hope…a hope that Governor Stitt will save the life of Emmanuel Littlejohn.  Based on such hope, I’ve decided to release this book of my writings around the Littlejohn Campaign early (I usually don’t do this until after an execution has taken place) with the hope that somebody might see them in time to save Littlejohn’s life.

 

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

Spiritual Advisor, Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

 

September 21, 2024

 

An OPED from Emmanuel Littlejohn : The Horror of My Fate

 

I’ve been here for nearly 32 years.  Whether I like it or not, the holes in the bricks, the smells of the pipes, the stains in the floor and the roaming creatures have all become a part of me.  Growing up, I never imagined this is where I would end up.  I clung tight to dreams and visions of a better future.  I guess that’s a very human thing to do.  We push back against all that might hold us back.  Then again, I guess we do until we don’t.  Life has a way of trapping those with few choices.  I succumbed to the temptations of the streets.  In fact, I’d say that I was eaten by them.  I was in prison before I was old enough to think right.  I’d long forgotten how to dream right.

 

In the Summer of 1992, I made the biggest mistake of my life.  I was 20.  Not long after my release from a stint in prison, I met up with an old acquaintance named Glenn Bethany.  We weren’t friends.  We were just united in our stupidity.  Jointly, we sold some dope.  When it came time to pay the dealer, I realized that Bethany had smoked a bunch of his share.  In my world, that meant we were going to have to find money quick or die.  The most logical thing to do was to rob a store.  What else were we supposed to do?  Delays led to death in the world I lived in.

 

Eventually, we settled on robbing the Root-n-Scoot convenience store.  I didn’t think.  I just acted on instinct.  Busting in the door, Bethany and I shouted for the clerk to empty the register.  Once we got the money, I was ready to get out of there.  The gun was getting increasingly uncomfortable in my hands.  Before I could get out, I saw a man jump out from the back with something in his hand.  Bethany fired a shot.  I was horrified.  Even though we had guns, there wasn’t supposed to be any shooting.  The shot killed Kenneth Meers.  I ran.  I’ve been running ever since.

 

Most people never have to live with this level of regret.  Every night, I hear that shot.  Even though I didn’t fire it, I hear it.  I can’t shake the noise.  I’m haunted by the echos.  I know that I should be.

 

In recent years, I’ve worked with my spiritual advisor Dr. Jeff Hood to get to a place of both accountability and transcendence.  Repeatedly, Dr. Hood has told me that fully accepting responsibility for my actions is the only way to find any semblance of peace.  Incessantly, I’ve apologized.  However, I haven’t found much peace.  I guess Mr. Meers means too much to me for that.

 

Today, I’m sitting in a medical cell…overweight, riddled with health problems and largely confined to a wheelchair.  Most days, I just stare at the walls and wrestle with the demons.  I’m in a precarious position.  Just a few weeks back, I was recommended for clemency by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.  Such a recommendation means that Governor Kevin Stitt can save my life.  Can and will are of course very different constructs.

 

I don’t know what’s going to happen.  I don’t know how many days I have left.  I guess none of us do.  The only thing that I know is how I feel right now.  I wouldn’t wish the horror on anybody.  If Gov. Stitt decides to kill me, I know that one day he will suffer the same consequences.  He will be a soul confined to a body that is failing…ravaged by regret…staring at walls…left wondering about the deadly consequences of his actions.  So, I guess the primary reason for Gov. Stitt to save me is so that he might save himself from my fate.

 

-Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

 

October 23, 2024

 

The Only Eyewitness to The Execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

*After a fierce campaign that almost saved his life, Emmanuel Littlejohn was executed on September 26, 2024.  As his spiritual advisor, I was the only eyewitness to the entirety of the execution.   I recently sat down to gather my recollections and thoughts about that morning.

 

The Only Eyewitness to The Execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn

 

Mornings come the quickest when hope is fading fastest.  Throughout the night, I’d thought about the final appeal.  The only person who could save the life of Emmanuel Littlejohn was Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.  I had to get to him.  Bright lights pulled against my humanity.  People don’t understand that cameras don’t add weight, they thin the soul.  Then again, those who think about such foolishness don’t often go on camera.  I didn’t have a choice.  Who else would stand against the creeping injustice of it all?  There was no turning around.  It was time to stand and deliver.

 

The lights were so bright.  It was almost as if I was undergoing an x-ray examination of my soul.  When I opened my mouth, I spoke beyond the lights:

 

“Governor Stitt, we are sitting here in McAlester, Oklahoma waiting on you.  Emmanuel Littlejohn has asked for grace…he has asked for mercy.  We are begging you to show that grace…to show that mercy…this morning.  We know that you just got a stint put in your heart…we are trusting that your heart is good.  We are trusting in that good heart to save Emmanuel Littlejohn.”

 

I don’t know how many people heard me.  Of course, you always wonder if the right people hear you at all.  I didn’t have time to wonder.  I had a path that was chosen for me.

 

Closer.  I could literally feel it in the pit of my stomach.  The churning was almost more than I could handle.  Before I left the area, I prayed for some sort of divine intervention.  “Do something God!”

 

By the time I made it to the staging area, I’d already been up for hours.  I was so tired.  Running on fumes, I showed my identification to the woman at the door.  Strangely, she was super friendly…borderline joyful.  “You do know that there is an execution today, right?”  The question immediately changed her mood.  I was glad.  I didn’t want Littlejohn’s family walking through the door to such foolishness.  This was a serious moment that deserved to be treated with the seriousness.  The interaction reminded me that I was not in a space where anybody really cared about Littlejohn.  I was the resistance.

 

When I got to the conference room, I exchanged pleasantries with the gathered officials.  We all talked.  Though, I’m not sure anything was actually said.  There was a ghost in that room.  The cruel delay.  What was Governor Kevin Stitt waiting on?  Was he trying to inflict as much pain as possible?  I kept reciting prayers to myself.  Then, I made the first of what would ultimately be many trips to the bathroom.  I was growing sicker by the minute.  It was the only place that I could briefly be alone.  I don’t know how I had anything else in my stomach.  Between bouts of blowing my guts into the toilet, I prayed.  “God, save my friend.”  “Be real to Emmanuel right now.”  “Be near.”  “Do not let us walk alone.”  I was tossing up whatever prayers came to mind.  Repeatedly, I splashed cold water on my face.  I just couldn’t wake up.

 

Not long after I sat back down to the table, Emmanuel’s mother and daughter joined me.  Though the circumstances were horrific and I’d rather none of us had to be there at all, I was relieved to see them.  Indeed, their presence made everything seem a little more human.  We all chatted nervously and waited.  The cruelty perpetuated by Governor Stitt’s indecision lingered just beneath the surface of it all.  Eventually, the officials came and took us to go to the cars that would transport us to the prison.  I rode in a vehicle designated for clergy and everyone else rode in a van designated for witnesses.  We all assumed that a decision had already been made.  We were wrong.  None of the vehicles moved.  We were still waiting on the Governor.  I tried to pray.  The only thing I could produce was anger.  Maybe that was the best prayer that I had?  When the cars started to move, nothing had to be said.  The end was now defined.

 

Once we got to the prison, I did everything by memory.  Remove the robe.  Walk through the metal detector.  Spin around.  Spread your arms and legs.  Hand identification to officer.  Answer questions.  Nod cordially.  Before I knew it, I was being led down a long colorless cement hall.  I knew where I was going.  I’d been here before.  It didn’t make it any easier.  I couldn’t breathe.  I wanted to run.  However, I’d come too far and loved Emmanuel too much to look back.  Eventually, I arrived at the port that led to the steps that led to the execution chamber.  Then, everything stopped.  For what seemed like an eternity, I waited for some sort of sign.  I passed the time by ripping up whatever I could get my hands on.  Bible cover.  Napkin.  Piece of paper.  I guess you could call it a nervous habit.  If I touched it, I ripped it.

 

One of the executioners pulled back the curtain at the top of the stairs.  I knew that this meant that Governor Stitt had failed Emmanuel Littlejohn.  The door in front of me opened.  I was motioned up the stairs.  Each step seemed to pull me back.  The resistance was strong.  Every fiber of my body didn’t want to go up those stairs.  I guess I thought if I could at least slow down each step then I could slow down the inevitable.

 

When I got to the top, I was met by the same man who had met me on three previous occasions.  Dressed in a full mask, the man was to be my minder once more.  The first time he took me through the rules, I was frightened.  The fourth time, I just let him be the hard ass that he thought he had to pretend to be.  When the door opened, Oklahoma Department of Corrections Chief of Operations Jason Sparks was standing there.  As Oklahoma’s chief executioner, Mr. Sparks oversaw the room.  After giving me some instructions that he’d shared with me on previous occasions, he stepped aside and let me in.  I’d been thinking of what I’d say when I saw Emmanuel.  I didn’t have to say anything.  Emmanuel blurted out, “Aw shit.  I thought we was going to stop this thing.”  My eyes welling up with tears, I replied, “I did too.  I’m so sorry brother.”  Time stopped for a second.  Regret killed all hope.  Then, Emmanuel motioned for me to come closer.  I walked up and grabbed hold of his hand.  The tattoos on his forearm stood out as much as they ever had.  “You can hold my hand Jeff…but don’t start all that caressing and rubbing shit.”  Despite the circumstances, I knew Emmanuel was still very present.

 

Though I tried to forget about the minder, he was ever present.  Chief Sparks had to ask him to back up at one point.  It wasn’t necessary for him to be close enough to smell his breath.  The room was flooded with fluorescent light.  Truthfully, they do a really good job of making the space seem as medical as possible.  Tubes, monitors and white sheets litter the place.  Since I’d been in the space before, there wasn’t much that was surprising.  Then again, the ease with which the executioners function is very strange.  I didn’t have time to concentrate on it.  I had a job to do.

 

Quickly, I asked Emmanuel if they’d had any trouble with the line.  It’s important to secure all details like that for the future.  Unfortunately, I knew that Emmanuel wasn’t going to be the last person executed.  In typical fashion, Emmanuel replied, “There were no problems at all.  They’re doing a very successful job of killing me.”

 

When I reached under my robe to get the oil, I realized that it had spilled all over my pants.  It looked like I’d peed all over myself.  The container was so slick that I could barely grasp it.  When I raised it to the gurney, Emmanuel started laughing.  I couldn’t figure out why.  Then, he blurted out, “Jeff, you done brought some weed?”  Looking down, I realized that the container looked like a dime bag.  Though I was laughing on the outside, I was struggling on the inside.  Each breathe was more painful than the last.  I just wanted to stop the world.

 

I started to read from the 23rd Psalm.  “The Lord is my shepherd…”. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…I will fear no evil…”. When I hit the words, I opened the oil.  “…you anoint my head with oil…”  With multiple oily movements, I made the sign of the cross on his forehead three times.  Emmanuel closed his eyes.  “I can feel it.”  His words showed that something was happening…and he started to relax.  When I asked him if he wanted me to keep reading, he said, “Jeff, what in the hell do you think you’re here for?”  I proceeded into the scriptures we’d talked about.

 

We turned a corner.  I started to read.

 

John 8:1-11.  The story of Jesus and the adulterous woman echoed loudly.  For many weeks, we’d studied the passage.  Emmanuel knew that this was the scripture that most directly spoke to where he was at.  When I got to the words, he closed his eyes and said them with me, “Let the one who is without sin caste the first stone.”  Before he let me continue, he looked up at his executioners and said, “whether you believe it or not…this shit applies to y’all too.”  The silence in the room spoke volumes.

 

John 14.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God…”. Emmanuel kept interrupting the reading with affirmations.  “I do.  I do.  I do.”  When I got to his favorite part, he read softly with me, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life.’”  Emmanuel couldn’t resist, “I receive it!”

 

John 18, 19 and 20.  The arrest.  The betrayal.  The trial.  Emmanuel wanted to stop for a second here and said, “Governor Stitt is Pilate…just washed his damn hands of it all.”  The pain.  The Crucifixion.  The Resurrection.  I stopped to tell Emmanuel that I believed in the resurrection of Emmanuel Littlejohn.  “This is your release date,” I added.  With a huge smile on his face, Emmanuel wasn’t going to let it slide, “What if I told you I like it here Jeff?”  I didn’t know what to say.  “Just keep reading the damn passages Jeff.”

 

Revelation 21.  “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”  Ever muscle in his face started to relax.  “Death will be no more.”  Emmanuel could feel it.  For a second, I realized that everything else in the room had melted away.  It was just me and him.  Time was getting short.

 

1 Corinthians 13.  “Love never ends.”  I squeezed his hand and said, “Brother, you’ve been a good son, you’ve been a good brother, you’ve been a good uncle, you’ve been a father…they all love you so much.  That love isn’t going anywhere.  Love never ends.”  “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”  Chief Sparks motioned for me to return back to the wall.  I squeezed his hand one last time.  I didn’t want to leave him.  But I knew I had to.  I had to give him to God.  “I love you brother, very much.”  Emmanuel didn’t hesitate, “I love you too.”

 

The curtain opened.

 

It's so strange.  Row after row of people gathered to take in the spectacle of it all.  What is it that they wish to see?  I guess it’s important that they’re there.  Perhaps the eyes of the gathered is the only thing keeping the executioners from just slicing the condemned’s head off?  I don’t know.  I just know that it is shocking to see row after row of people hungry for blood.  When I turned my head, I saw Emmanuel’s mom and daughter.  For an instant, I watched them hold each other.  Then, I turned back to Attorney General Gentner Drummond and questioned how he could live with himself with my squinted eyes.  The discomfort in his face made it clear that he understood me.

 

Chief Sparks grabbed the microphone and read the death warrant.  It was time for the execution to begin.  I kept my eyes on Emmanuel.  I refused to run.  I wanted him to know that I was there no matter what.  Chief Sparks asked Emmanuel if he had a final statement.  It was as if the heavens were slowly opening above his head.  I knew he wasn’t long for this world.  “Yes, I do.”  Emmanuel looked to his mother and said, “Mom, you ok?”  “I’m ok,” his mother replied.  Emmanuel managed to reply, “Everything is going to be ok.  I love you.”  After the microphone cut off, I leaned in and told Emmanuel one last time, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to stop this.”  I will remember his words forever.  “Jeff, if it hadn’t been for you we would have never made it this far.”  His eyes rolled back, and he drifted out of consciousness.  Loud snores filled the room.  Emmanuel was leaving in a hurry.  It was as if I could see his soul leaving his body.  It was lingering above the table.  The light was falling from the heavens.  He was pulling away.  I could feel the rips.

 

“Faith, hope and love…but the greatest of these is love”. I raised my hand and said it dozens…if not hundreds…of times.  I wanted for the last thing that Emmanuel heard to be that he was loved.  I know that everyone in the room got tired of hearing it.  I didn’t care.  If they were participating in an execution, I figured they needed to hear it as much as anyone.  Each time I finished saying the phrase, I made the sign of the cross.  Emmanuel saw me.  Emmanuel heard me.  Love always finds a way through.

 

Emmanuel just laid motionless on the gurney.  Head laid back.  Mouth opened.  Rotten teeth exposed.  Before long, the doctor came in and declared a time of death.  I already he was gone.  I’d seen him leave.  He was in God’s hands now.

 

I was ready to get out of there.  The door swung open.  Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Steven Harpe came out to speak to the gathered.  The show was over.  I have never understood why there was any need for any further comment.  The dead body says it all.  Each time, I try to be courteous.  I shook Director Harpe’s hand.  Emmanuel would have kicked my ass.  I can just hear him, “Why would you shake that motha fuckers’ hand?  He just killed me Jeff.”  Thankfully, Emmanuel was too distracted with the eternal reward of love to pay attention.