Oklahoma’s longest-serving death row inmate dined on Little Caeser’s pizza and several servings of vanilla ice cream before receiving a lethal injection for killing his ex-stepdaughter.
Richard Rojem Jr, 66, also had eight salt packets, eight crushed red pepper packets, two ice cream cups and a large styrofoam cup and ginger ale as his final meal shortly before 6pm on Wednesday, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Strapped to a gurney and connected to an IV at Oklahoma State Penitentiary on Thursday morning, Rojem was given an opportunity to say any last words.
‘I don’t,’ he said. ‘I’ve said my goodbyes.’
He received the lethal three-drug concoction and was declared dead at 10.16am.
Rojem has been behind bars since 1985 for being convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering his former stepdaughter Layla Cummings, who was seven years old.
Her body was found partly clothed and mutilated and stabbed in a rural area of Burns Flat in Washita County on July 7, 1984.
Rojem’s defense team argued that DNA from Layla’s nails did not connect him to the killing.
‘If my client’s DNA is not present, he should not be convicted,’ stated his lawyer, Jack Fisher, during a clemency hearing earlier this month.
Rojem maintained his innocence throughout.
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