An Oklahoma death row inmate set to be executed this week says he knows he committed a "horrible crime" when he killed his ex-girlfriend and her infant daughter, but that he doesn't deserve to die. His victims' loved ones say justice is long overdue.
Raymond Eugene Johnson, 52, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, May 14, for the brutal 2007 murders of 24-year-old Brooke Whitaker and her 7-month-old baby girl Kya. Johnson repeatedly hit Whitaker with a claw hammer before setting her and her Tulsa home on fire.
Kya was killed in the blaze and Whitaker − a mother of four − later died at a hospital of severe burn wounds and head injuries.
"Raymond Johnson is a heinous murderer who violently attacked and tortured Brooke Whitaker before ultimately setting her and her infant daughter on fire," Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement last month. "Johnson has never taken full accountability for these unconscionable acts, which not only devastated a family but also left three young children without their mother and baby sister."
Johnson has been arguing that he deserves clemency from the death penalty, saying that he's a changed man.
