McALESTER, Okla. — An Oklahoma man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend and her 7-month-old daughter after setting their residence on fireplace practically 20 years in the past was set to be executed on Thursday.
Raymond Johnson, 52, was scheduled to obtain a deadly injection on the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.
He was condemned for the June 2007 loss of life of 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya.
Prosecutors mentioned that after Johnson and Whitaker acquired into an early morning argument at her residence in Tulsa, he repeatedly hit her over the pinnacle with a steel claw hammer.
Whitaker’s cranium was fractured and he or she had greater than 20 lacerations on her face and scalp. However she was nonetheless acutely aware and begged Johnson to spare her and Kya, who was sleeping in a bed room, prosecutors mentioned in paperwork ready for Johnson’s clemency listening to in April.
“She begged him to name 911. She begged him to let her mother come get child Kya. She begged him to think about her youngsters,” the Oklahoma Legal professional Common’s Workplace mentioned. Whitaker had three different youngsters.
Johnson retrieved a gasoline can from a device shed within the yard, doused Whitaker and the home with gasoline, lit a dishtowel on fireplace, threw it at Whitaker and left, the lawyer common’s workplace mentioned. Whitaker died from head accidents and smoke inhalation whereas her daughter died from extreme burns.
“Raymond Johnson is a merciless assassin who inflicted unimaginable ache and struggling on his victims,” Oklahoma Legal professional Common Gentner Drummond mentioned in an announcement.
Johnson’s attorneys haven’t filed a last-minute attraction with the U.S. Supreme Court docket to try to cease his execution. His lawyer didn’t reply to a number of calls and emails looking for remark.
His attorneys had unsuccessfully argued in prior appeals that Johnson’s arrest was unlawful, his confession had been coerced by police and his trial lawyer had conceded with out his permission his guilt in Whitaker’s loss of life.
In April, Oklahoma’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously to disclaim Johnson clemency.
At his clemency listening to, Johnson apologized to the victims’ household and requested for forgiveness, saying he was a modified particular person.
“I apologize. No excuses, no justifications, a honest apology. And to know that it’s honest, take a look at my actions. Take a look at my life. Look how I’ve modified. I’m dwelling a remorseful life. I’m dwelling it,” Johnson mentioned in an interview with Dying Penalty Motion, a nationwide anti-death penalty group.
At Johnson’s clemency listening to, Whitaker’s relations requested for the deadly injection to proceed.
“Executing him won’t give me my mother or sister again, it won’t take away nearly 20 years of ache. What it should do is lastly cease him from persevering with to harm us,” Logan Kleck, Whitaker’s oldest daughter, mentioned in a letter to the board.
Along with his first-degree homicide conviction, Johnson has a 1996 conviction for manslaughter and served 9 years of a 20-year jail sentence in that case.
If the execution is carried out, Johnson could be the second particular person put to loss of life this 12 months in Oklahoma and the eleventh particular person within the nation.
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Lozano reported from Houston. Observe Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70
