Callum Jones
A death row inmate who kidnapped, raped and murdered a seven-year-old girl has been denied clemency and will be executed next week.
Richard Rojem was sentenced to death for killing his former stepdaughter, Layla Cummings, in 1984.
The seven-year-old's body was discovered mutilated and partially clothed in a field in rural Washita County near the town of Burns Flat.
It was concluded that the child was stabbed to death.
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Rojem, 66, has consistently denied being involved in the murder but has now exhausted his appeals.
His attorneys have argued his innocence, saying that DNA evidence taken from Layla's fingernails did not link him to the murder.
“If my client’s DNA is not present, he should not be convicted,” attorney Jack Fisher said.
He urged Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board to recommend clemency to the governor so the inmate could be spared execution and instead spend the rest of his life behind bars.
The Oklahoman reported that Rojem pleaded with the Board: "An innocent man doesn't ever plead guilty to a crime he hasn't committed. And the reason for that is obvious. If there is justice to be had, it won't be had.
"I wasn't a great human being for the first part of my life.
"And I don't deny that. But I went to prison. I learned my lesson. And I left all that behind."
However, Governor Kevin Stitt cannot overturn Rojem’s death sentence without a clemency recommendation from the Board.
On Monday (June 17), the Board unanimously denied clemency for Rojem, meaning he is scheduled to be executed via lethal injection on June 27. It is set to be Oklahoma's second execution this year.
Prosecutors say there is other evidence aside from DNA that was used to convict Rojem, including a fingerprint that was found outside Cummings' apartment on a cup from a bar that the death row inmate left just before she was kidnapped.
A condom wrapper was also found near the girl's body - linked to a used condom found in Rojem’s bedroom, according to prosecutors.
While Cummings' mom was not present before the Board, last month she wrote a letter to the panel, urging them to deny clemency.
As per AP, Mindy Lynn Cummings penned: “Everything she might have been was stolen from her one horrific night.
“She never got to be more than the precious seven year old that she was. And so she remains in our hearts - forever 7.”