A pastor told rows of people gathered Saturday at a church in Wichita that it broke his heart to be standing before them.
Loved ones of Emmanual Littlejohn, 52, had held onto hope that they would not see this day.
Over a recommendation from the parole board, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt denied a request for clemency. Littlejohn died by lethal injection the morning of Sept. 26.
Rev. Jeff Hood accompanied him in the execution chamber.
“Emmanual Littlejohn was more than just somebody I worked with — he was my friend,” said Hood, who served as a spiritual adviser to Littlejohn for two years.
Littlejohn was convicted in the 1992 Oklahoma City murder of Kenneth Meers, a convenience store owner.
In August, the parole board voted 3-2 in favor of clemency, the Associated Press reported, after Littlejohn’s attorneys raised questions about who had fired the shot at Meers. A co-defendant in the murder received life in prison.
Littlejohn’s remains were brought back to Wichita, where he spent much of his childhood. The service Saturday was held at New Covenant Church. His grandmother had been the first member in the congregation and he attended church there as a youth, family said.
Kela Littlejohn, his only child, told The Star she was devastated. During the funeral, she read a letter she had written for her father.
“This is going to be a long journey for me and your grand boys,” the mother of three said. “But I know you raised a strong daughter.”
She said she is going to miss their long talks and his encouraging words.
“I feel like a piece of my heart is gone, but I know that you’re still with me,” she said as she cried.
Speakers read psalms and his niece performed a dance. Others recounted childhood memories and conversations they had with him while he was in prison, ranging from advice to funny nicknames.
Littlejohn’s younger sister Augustina Sanders said he had been a great brother.
She wants to see the death penalty abolished and said it was not only her brother who was punished, but also his family.
Hood asked when the government was going to stop doing this to families.
“I talked to Emmanuel a lot as we went through the time and space of trying to stop that execution,” Hood said. “Man, we worked hard. We worked very hard.”
“It breaks my heart that we weren’t successful.”
Littlejohn’s last meal was a meat pizza, two slices of cheesecake and a Coke, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said.
In the execution chamber, Hood “said ‘You’re about to meet Jesus.’ And he told me, he said, ‘I already know Jesus.’”
The Associated Press reported that Littlejohn asked if his mother Ciely Mason, who was in attendance, if she was OK.
“Everything is going to be OK. I love you,” he told her.
Hood said in Littlejohn’s last minutes, his thoughts were about others.
“We try to define people so much by their worst moments … but I can tell you that in those final moments, Emmanuel was defined by his love.”
Hood told those gathered Saturday that the cost of the death penalty is high.
“It’s measured in moments like this,” Hood said. “And you can’t help but ask, why?”
Littlejohn was one of five people executed in the U.S. in a weeks span, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That included the controversial execution of Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams in Missouri, who maintained that he was innocent.
The death penalty is legal in Kansas, but an execution in Kansas has not taken place since the 1960s. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has signaled that he wants to restart executions.
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