Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denies clemency to convicted killer

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to deny clemency to Richard Norman Rojem, Jr. on Monday after hearing from his defense team, the Attorney General's office and victim impact statements. (Photo by Kennedy Thomason/Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denied a convicted killer clemency in a 5-0 vote Monday.

Richard Norman Rojem, Jr., 66, is on death row for the 1984 kidnapping, rape and murder of his former stepdaughter Layla Cummings, 7.

He is scheduled to be executed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester on June 27.

Rojem’s defense team argued the quality of the evidence was not sufficient to warrant death and he did not kill Layla Cummings. The Attorney General’s office argued the crime’s timeline, evidence and three previous jury verdicts demonstrated Rojem did not deserve clemency.

Layla Cummings’ body was found in a field near Burns Flat on July 7, 1984, where she was face-down in her mother’s nightgown. She sustained three stab wounds, according to a medical examiner’s report.

Layla Cummings’ aunt, Vicky Cummings, spoke at the hearing via Zoom. She said she wanted her family’s 40 years of suffering to come to an end.

“I have become so weary all these years pressing against that prison door trying to keep him in,” Vicky Cummings said. “Having to relive and reiterate this horror time and time again. Please, just 10 more days.”

Mindy Cummings, Layla Cummings’ mother, did not attend the hearing. Instead, a representative read a letter she wrote to the Board.

She wrote that her daughter’s death has taken a heavy toll on her son, who saw Rojem take Layla Cummings from their apartment, and her ex-husband, who committed suicide after his daughter’s death. She asked the Board to deny clemency based on “savage, barbaric and torturous acts” Rojem made against her daughter.

Rojem spoke at the hearing via Zoom from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He said, though offered numerous plea deals before his 1985 trial, he did not take one because he is innocent. Rojem was previously convicted for the rapes of two teenage girls in Michigan, according to court records.

“I wasn’t a good human being for the first part of my life, and I don’t deny that,” Rojem said. “But I went to prison. I learned my lesson. And I left all that behind.

“I did not kidnap Layla. I did not rape Layla. And I did not murder [her].”

Attorney General Gentner Drummond said he agreed with the Board’s decision. “ I am pleased the Pardon and Parole Board denied clemency for the monster who savagely raped and murdered an innocent child and caused unimaginable suffering for her family,” Drummond said in a statement after the hearing. “Justice for Layla will be served when he is executed on June 27.”

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