Oklahoma man facing June 27 execution plans to request clemency at hearing

Convicted killer Richard Norman Rojem, Jr. will ask for clemency in a hearing Monday. (Getty Images)

OKLAHOMA CITY –A convicted killer on Monday is expected to ask the Pardon and Parole Board for clemency ahead of his scheduled execution later this month.

Richard Norman Rojem, Jr., 66, is set to be executed June 27 for the 1984 kidnapping, rape and murder of his 7-year-old former stepdaughter Layla Cummings.

Rojem’s legal team is expected to argue that he deserves clemency because he’s not guilty of the slaying.

Layla Cummings’ body was found in a field near Burns Flat, where she was face-down in her mother’s nightgown. She sustained three stab wounds, according to a medical examiner’s report.

The girl’s mother, Mindy Cummings, said in a letter to the Pardon and Parole Board that her life has been like “holding onto a rope in a hurricane” since her daughter’s death.

“I cannot maintain a count of how old she would be each year, had she lived,” Mindy Cummings wrote. “For me, it is meaningless. Everything she might have been was stolen from her, one horrific night. She never got to be more than the precious 7-year-old that she was. And so she remains in our hearts – forever 7.”

Mindy Cummings met and married Rojem while he was serving a sentence for the rapes of two teenage girls in Michigan, according to records. It was not immediately clear if she knew what he was in prison for. After serving three years, he violated his parole to move to Oklahoma, according to records.

One year before Layla Cummings’ death, Rojem molested her, according to records.

Mindy Cummings divorced and obtained a restraining order against Rojem in 1984 before her daughter’s death.

Before meeting Mindy Cummings, Rojem served in the Air Force.

He received an administrative discharge after having several disciplinary issues, according to records. While he was part of the service, he was evaluated and found to have a personality disorder with “dissocial characteristics.” He also “showed a lack of thoughtful and adaptively organized behavior and had a history of truth distortion,” according to records.

In early July 1984, the Cummings lived in an Elk City apartment. While her mother was working a night shift at McDonald’s, Mindy Cummings asked a friend to keep an eye on the apartment where her daughter and son slept, according to records.

Rojem entered the apartment, which did not have a working lock, and kidnapped Layla Cummings around 12:30 a.m. on July 7, according to records. The noise woke her brother, who recognized Rojem, according to records.

A farmer discovered Layla Cummings’ body later that day.

Three juries sentenced Rojem to death.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond has asked the Board to reject Rojem’s appeal for clemency.

“The family of Layla Cummings has waited 40 years for justice to be done,” Drummond said in a statement. “Her killer is a real-life monster who deserves the same absence of mercy he showed to the child he savagely murdered. I urge the Pardon and Parole Board to reject the inmate’s absurd request for clemency and ensure justice is done for Layla.”

Rojem’s attorney, Jack Fisher, declined a request for an interview.

In his request for clemency, Rojem’s team argues he is innocent.

Rojem’s attorneys are expected to say DNA found under Layla Cummings’ fingernails was not his, and that no DNA was found in his car, according to his clemency packet. Dirt from Rojem’s tires was not consistent with the dirt of the field Layla Cummings’ body was found in, according to his clemency packet.

They are also expected to argue fingerprint evidence isn’t reliable enough and condom wrappings found around Layla Cummings’ body were suspicious because a medical examiner’s report found she was not raped and murdered in the field, according to his clemency packet.

“Mr. Rojem and his counsel respectfully request this board recommend Clemency for Rick Rojem an innocent man and commute his death sentence to life or life without parole,” according to his clemency packet. “Then Mr. Rojem can attempt to litigate his actual innocence claim in a different forum.”

Rojem is set to be executed at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board will vote whether to recommend clemency to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who will make the final decision.

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