Emmanuel Antonia Littlejohn was born on November 9, 1971, in Oklahoma, U.S. 

On June 19, 1992, Kenneth Meers, the owner of a convenience store in Oklahoma City, was killed during a robbery. Around 10:15 p.m., two men, Emmanuel Antonia Littlejohn and Glenn Roy Bethany, entered the store with the intention to rob it. They held Meers at gunpoint, and during this armed robbery, one of the robbers shot Meers in the face, resulting in his death.

Witnesses at the scene provided conflicting accounts of who pulled the trigger. Some reported that Littlejohn was the one who shot Meers, while others believed it was Bethany. After the robbery, both men fled the store. Bethany was arrested shortly after in Oklahoma City, but Littlejohn managed to escape and was on the run for about five days before being captured in Wichita, Kansas.

Both men were charged with murder and robbery. On March 11, 1993, Bethany was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Littlejohn’s trial started in early 1994, where he maintained his innocence, claiming that he did not kill Meers and that Bethany was the actual shooter. However, on November 15, 1994, Littlejohn was found guilty of murder, robbery, and attempted robbery. A jury sentenced him to death as well as long prison terms for the robbery and attempted robbery.

After his conviction, Littlejohn appealed his death sentence multiple times, arguing that he was innocent, but each of his appeals was rejected by the courts. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his convictions, but later vacated the death sentence, necessitating a re-sentencing. In 2000, after a new jury was presented with the case, Littlejohn was again sentenced to death.

His legal struggles continued for many years. By 2018, Littlejohn had exhausted all his appeals and became eligible for execution. In August 2022, an execution date was set for him, but it was delayed. Eventually, on September 26, 2024, after a clemency hearing failed to save him, Littlejohn was executed by lethal injection in Oklahoma State Penitentiary.