Oklahoma executes man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a seven-year-old girl in 1984

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — A man convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his 7-year-old former stepdaughter in 1984 was executed in Oklahoma on Thursday.

Richard Rojem, 66, received a lethal three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m., prison officials said. Rojem, who had been in prison since 1985, was the longest-serving inmate on Oklahoma’s death row.

When asked if he had any final words, Rojem, who was strapped to a stretcher with an IV in his tattooed left arm, said: “None. I said goodbye.”

He glanced briefly at several witnesses who were in a room adjacent to the death chamber before the first drug, the sedative midazolam, began to flow. About 5 minutes later, at 10:08 a.m., he was pronounced unconscious and stopped breathing around 10:10 a.m.

During the execution, a spiritual advisor accompanied Rojem in the death chamber.

Rojem had denied responsibility for the murder of his former stepdaughter, Layla Cummings. The child’s mutilated and partially clothed body was discovered in a field in rural Washita County near the town of Burns Flat on July 7, 1984. She had been stabbed to death.

Rojem had previously been convicted of raping two teenagers in Michigan. Prosecutors said he was angry at Layla Cummings for sexually assaulting Rojem, leading to his divorce from the girl’s mother and his renewed prison sentence for violating his probation.

Rojem’s lawyers argued at a clemency hearing this month that DNA evidence taken from the girl’s fingernails did not link him to the crime.

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

In a statement read by Attorney General Gentner Drummond after the execution, Layla’s mother, Mindy Lynn Cummings, said, “We remember her, honor her, and carry her in our hearts forever as the sweet and precious seven-year-old she was.”

“Today marks the final chapter of justice decided by three different juries for the heinous acts of Richard Rojem nearly 40 years ago when he kidnapped her like the monster he was.”

Rojem, who testified at the hearing via video link from prison, said he was not responsible for the girl’s death. The panel voted 5-0 not to recommend that the governor spare Rojem’s life.

“I was not a good person in the first half of my life, I don’t deny that,” said Rojem, handcuffed and wearing a red prison uniform. “But I went to prison. I learned my lesson and put it all behind me.”

Prosecutors said there was enough evidence to convict Rojem, including a fingerprint found outside the girl’s apartment on a mug from a bar Rojem left shortly before the girl’s abduction. A condom wrapper found near the girl’s body was also linked to a used condom found in Rojem’s bedroom, prosecutors said.

A Washita County jury convicted Rojem in 1985 after deliberating for just 45 minutes. His previous death sentences were overturned twice by appeals courts due to procedural errors. A Custer County jury finally sentenced him to death for a third time in 2007.

Oklahoma has executed more prisoners per capita than any other U.S. state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Oklahoma has now carried out 13 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in October 2021. There was previously a nearly six-year hiatus following problems with executions in 2014 and 2015.

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Sean Murphy, Associated Press