Oklahoma on Thursday executed the state’s longest serving death row inmate, a convicted felon who kidnapped, raped and murdered his 7-year-old stepdaughter in 1984.
Richard Rojem, 66, was pronounced dead at 10:16 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary by three lethal injection doses.
Rojem had maintained he was innocent of the murder of his former stepdaughter, Leila Cummings, whose body was found dismembered and partially stripped on July 7, 1984.
When asked if he had any final words, Rojem replied, “No. I’ve already said goodbye.”
Rojem glanced briefly at several witnesses, including Leila’s mother, Mindy Cummings, who was in the room next to the execution chamber, but then lost consciousness from the effects of the drugs and stopped breathing five minutes later.
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the execution brings to an end a nightmare the family has suffered for 40 years since Layla’s death.
“We will forever remember, honor and hold in our hearts the sweet and loving 7-year-old we knew she was,” Mindy Cummings said in a statement.
“Today marks the final chapter as a three-judge jury delivers justice for Richard Roghem’s heinous act of abducting her nearly 40 years ago.”
Prosecutors said Rojem, who was previously convicted of raping two teenage girls in Michigan, was enraged that Layla had accused him of sexually abusing her.
Leila’s accusations led to her mother divorcing Rojem and Rojem returning to prison for violating the terms of his parole.
The girl was later kidnapped from her home and her body found with stab wounds in a rural Ouachita Parish field. A jury convicted Rojem of the girl’s death in 1985 after deliberating just 45 minutes.
Rojem has spent the rest of his life in prison and has fought his sentence, and at a clemency hearing earlier this month his lawyers argued that DNA results taken from Leila’s fingernails did not link him to the crime.
“I did not kidnap Layla, I did not rape her and I did not murder her,” he told the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles.
But prosecutors said there was enough evidence to convict Rojem, including that condom wrappers found near the girl’s body linked to used condoms found in Rojem’s bedroom.
Investigators also linked fingerprints found in Leila’s room to a bar cup left by Rojem shortly before the girl was abducted.
The Oklahoma state commission ultimately voted unanimously not to recommend to the governor that he spare his life.
With post wire
