Oklahoma AG pushes against clemency for death row inmate Richard Rojem Jr.

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    OKLAHOMA CITY (KOCO) — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is asking the Pardon and Parole Board to vote against recommending clemency for death row inmate Richard Rojem Jr.

Rojem was convicted in 1984 for kidnapping, raping and murdering his 7-year-old former stepdaughter, Layla Dawn Cummings. The death row inmate has always claimed that he’s innocent, and he’s won two challenges to his sentence in decades past.

Court records say Cummings was abducted from an apartment while her mother was working. The 7-year-old’s body was later found in a field on the side of a county road in Burns Flat.

After several resentencing trials, juries kept recommending the death penalty. That recommendation was upheld by the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Drummond argues the victim’s family has waited 40 years for justice to be done.

“The family of Layla Cummings has waited 40 years for justice to be done. Her killer is a real-life monster who deserves the same absence of mercy he showed to the child he savagely murdered,” Drummond said in a news release. “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 clemency hearing is set for June 17. If clemency is not granted, he is scheduled to be put to death on June 27 at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

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