FEATURED POST

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

Published
Image
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.

Oklahoma | Execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn Stayed

Published
 
Execution of Emmanuel Littlejohn Stayed in Oklahoma Before November 2, 2023

Emmanuel Littlejohn was scheduled to be executed at 10 a.m. local time on Thursday, November 2, 2023. The execution, which would have taken place inside the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma, will not take place as scheduled. It has been stayed and is awaiting a new execution date. 

51-year-old Emmanuel was convicted of murdering Kenneth Meers on June 20, 1992, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. For the last 29 years, Emmanuel has resided on death row in Oklahoma.

Emmanuel’s mother was addicted to drugs and his father was an alcoholic who took little interest in his son. Emmanuel was abandoned by his mother at the age of 5. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, and violence were often present in the home where Emmanuel grew up. Emmanuel struggled in school and had a poor home life, where food, basic necessities, and utilities were not always available. 

While under the age of 18, Emmanuel stole several cars, resulting in a stay at a juvenile facility. Two weeks after his release at the age of 18, Emmanuel committed a robbery while armed, resulting in a nearly 2-year jail term.

A few weeks after his release, on June 20, 1992, Emmanuel Littlejohn and Glenn Bethany entered the Root ’n’ Toot convenience store, with the intention of robbing it. At that time, Tony Hulsey, Danny Waldrup, and Kenneth Meers were working at the store. As Bethany and Littlejohn exited the store, Kenneth was shot in the face. He died from his injuries.

Littlejohn has long maintained that he did not fire the fatal shot. However, under Oklahoma’s felony murder law, a person who commits a felony crime where a murder occurs is responsible for the murder, no matter if they actually killed the person.

Bethany, who Littlejohn maintains pulled the trigger, was also tried and convicted. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has requested that several of the upcoming scheduled executions in the state be rescheduled to allow more time between executions. Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections is currently understaffed and preparing for an execution is time intensive. Drummond’s request was granted by the courts. Several executions have been rescheduled, however many, including Littlejohn have not yet received their new execution dates.

Please pray for peace for the family of Kenneth Meers. Please pray for strength for the family of Emmanuel Littlejohn. Pray that if Emmanuel is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason that evidence will be provided before his execution. Pray that Emmanuel will find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Source: theforgivenessfoundation.org, Staff, November 2, 2023

_____________________________________________________________________











Location: Oklahoma, USA
Related content:

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

Published
Image
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.
Read more

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

Published
Image
The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
Read more

Mississippi | Biloxi man gets death penalty for torture, murder of toddler

Published
Image
A Mississippi Coast man is headed to death row for his role in the beating and suffocation death of his 2-year-old stepson — all because the toddler soiled his diaper and took too long to get a juice box out of the refrigerator. A jury in Harrison County Circuit Court in Biloxi deliberated for just over two hours Friday before handing down the death sentence against Joseph David Heard, 41, in the Dec. 27, 2021, killing of his stepson, Hayden Lee Bataille, of Biloxi. 
Read more

Cruel and Unusual: Documentary explores epicenter of Texas’ prison system

Published
Image
Every few years, from childhood until my late teens, my granddad would take me along with him to the small Texas town where he grew up—Normangee, population 522—to visit old relatives and even older graves. The drive took us up I-45, beyond the Houston sprawl, past pine forests, and eventually through Huntsville, epicenter of the state prison system. One of the city’s seven prisons was just off the interstate, and as we passed by I’d stare at the guard towers and barbed wire before turning my attention across the street to the Texas Prison Museum, which had its own mock guard towers in the parking lot. (“Prison” and “museum” were words that never seemed to go together.) Later, I learned that the museum’s central attraction was the wooden electric chair the state used for executions until 1964.
Read more

Saudi authorities agree to postpone execution of Kenyan national

Published
Image
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 – Saudi Arabia has acceded to Kenya’s request to postpone the execution of Stephen Munyakho that was set for Wednesday to allow for further negotiations between all parties. According to Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei, Kenya will be engaging stakeholders in Nairobi and Riyadh, including religious leaders, to agree on the next urgent steps.
Read more

Tennessee | New law allows death penalty for child rape

Published
Image
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has approved legislation allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions, a change the Republican-controlled Statehouse championed amid concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases. Lee, a Republican, quietly signed off on the legislation last week without issuing a statement.
Read more