An American man sentenced to death for the rape and murder of his seven-year-old stepdaughter in 1984 was executed Thursday morning in Oklahoma, the prison administration of this southern state said.
Richard Norman Rojem Jr., 66, in prison for about 40 years, was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. local time (3:16 p.m. GMT) following a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in the city of McAlester, according to a press release. This is the second execution since the start of the year in Oklahoma and the ninth in the United States, in addition to the one canceled at the last minute on February 28 in Idaho (northwest).
Layla Cummings, daughter of Richard Norman’s former girlfriend Rojem Jr., was kidnapped from her Elk City home on the night of July 6-7, 1984, before her lifeless body was found in a field the next day, stabbed with knives near the neck and around the genitals.
A fingerprint found on a can of beer at the victim’s home, as well as the wrapper of a condom found near the girl’s body, constituted evidence against Richard Norman Rojem Jr. He has always maintained his innocence pointing to “a case built entirely on circumstantial evidence.”
According to the local press, two first death sentences were overturned for procedural errors, before a final conviction in 2007.
Oklahoma resumed capital executions in 2021 after a six-year moratorium due to botched executions in 2014 and 2015. A total of 24 executions were carried out in the United States in 2023, all by lethal injection. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 out of 50 American states. Six others (Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) observe a moratorium on executions by decision of the governor.
