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Panel denies clemency to Oklahoma death row inmate

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Barbara Hoberock
(Oklahoma Voice)

Religion, redemption and remorse were not enough for Raymond E. Johnson to elicit a single vote for mercy from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

The Board voted 5-0 on Wednesday against recommending that Governor Kevin Stitt grant clemency to the 52-year-old double murderer.

Johnson is set to die May 14 by lethal injection at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

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He was sentenced to death for the 2007 murder of Brooke Whitaker, 24, and her daughter, Kyla, 7 months.

Johnson struck Whitaker in the head several times with a claw hammer before setting her Tulsa home on fire. Three of Whitaker’s other children were not home.

Johnson made a personal appearance before the board by video conference, apologizing to the victims’ family, who asked the board to deny his request for mercy.

“There is no excuse for my actions,” he said.

He said he knew Whitaker’s family was close because he was once entrusted in that circle.

“I know the love shared because to know Brooke and Kyla was to love them,” Johnson said. “Today, I sit here responsible for their deaths.”

He told the board about his close relationship with his own two children, about his strong bond with his church and efforts to help others while behind bars.

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But First Assistant Attorney General Amie Ely said Whitaker begged Johnson to spare her life and had defensive wounds on her hands. Ely said Whitaker and her daughter were killed in a way to inflict “maximum suffering.”

Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Crabb said Johnson’s arguments were much the same as others who sought clemency, such as religion and ability to help others.

Johnson had a lifelong habit of “manipulating women,” Crabb said.

He threatened and abused Whitaker for months before the murders, Crabb said.

Both victims were alive when the fire started, she said.

Whitaker’s fear and suffering were unimaginable, Crabb said.

A statement from one of Whitaker’s daughters, Alyssa, was read. She spoke of the missed birthdays, graduations, weddings, pregnancies and births.

Alyssa wrote that she was 5 years old when her mother was murdered and she lost everything.

“I’m 24, but here today as that 5-year-old little girl, begging you not to grant clemency to Raymond Johnson,” she wrote. “Don’t let him have this too.”

Johnson had previously pleaded guilty in Cleveland County to manslaughter for the 1995 shooting death of Clarence Oliver. Johnson served half of a 20-year sentence.