14 May 2026 :
May 14, 2026 - Oklahoma. Raymond Johnson, 52, Black, was executed on May 14.
11th execution of the year in the US
The man received a lethal injection for the 2007 murders of 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old baby girl Kya.
Johnson was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. Thursday following a three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.
He was sentenced to death for killing 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old daughter, Kya, in June 2007.
Prosecutors said Johnson and Whitaker had been arguing at her home in Tulsa before he repeatedly hit her over the head with a metal claw hammer.
Johnson retrieved a gas can from a tool shed in the backyard, doused Whitaker and the house with gasoline, lit a dish towel on fire, threw it at Whitaker and left, the attorney general's office said. Whitaker died from head injuries and smoke inhalation while her daughter died from severe burns.
Johnson's attorneys did not file a last-minute appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution.
In April, Oklahoma's five-member Pardon and Parole Board voted unanimously to deny Johnson clemency. During that clemency hearing, Johnson apologized to the victims' family and asked for forgiveness, saying he was a changed person.
Logan Kleck, Whitaker's oldest daughter asked for the lethal injection to proceed.
Johnson becomes the 2nd person executed in Oklahoma this year, the 131st overall since Oklahoma resumed executions in 1990, the 11th executed of 2026 in the US, and the 1,665th since the nation resumed executions in 1977.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-executes-inmate-killed-ex-girlfriend-and-baby/
