Execution Scheduled for Oklahoma Man Following Drive-By Shooting Conviction
In McAlester, Oklahoma, Kendrick Simpson, aged 45, was slated for execution via lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Simpson’s execution marks the first of the year in Oklahoma and the second in the United States. He was convicted for his involvement in the 2006 deaths of Anthony Jones, 19, and Glen Palmer, 20, subsequent to a conflict at an Oklahoma City nightclub.
Simpson, who relocated to Oklahoma City post-Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans, confessed to the crimes during a clemency hearing last month. At the hearing, he offered an apology to the families of the victims and an additional individual present during the shooting.
“I apologize for murdering your sons,” Simpson stated. “I don’t make any excuses. I don’t blame others, and they didn’t deserve what happened to them.”
Despite his remorse, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, composed of five members, voted by a narrow margin to deny clemency. The U.S. Supreme Court also declined to intervene, dismissing a last-minute appeal without comment.
Simpson’s legal team presented arguments citing his posttraumatic stress disorder, attributed to a traumatic upbringing in a New Orleans housing project.
“Kendrick is a man worthy of your mercy and compassion,” his attorneys articulated in their clemency plea. “The death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the worst of the worst offenses and offenders. Kendrick and his case represent neither.”
According to prosecutors, on the night of the incident in January 2006, Simpson placed an assault rifle in his vehicle’s trunk and drove with friends to a club in northwest Oklahoma City. Following an altercation with Palmer, Simpson and his associates pursued Palmer and Jones from a nearby gas station, discharging approximately 20 rounds into their car, resulting in fatal injuries to both victims.
Many family members of the victims supported the execution. Crystal Allison, Palmer’s sister, expressed her views in a letter to the board. “Do I believe this man should live and be able to breathe and take out the rest of his life behind a cell?” she wrote. “He made the choice for him so I stand here today to make the choice for my family. Yes, we would like to see him executed for what he did — he executed my brother.”
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond supported the board’s decision, labeling Simpson as a “ruthless and violent killer who hunted his victims without remorse.”
The execution protocol in Oklahoma involves a three-drug sequence: the sedative midazolam, vecuronium bromide to cease breathing, and potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Simpson’s execution follows the recent execution in Florida, where Ronald Palmer Heath was put to death for a 1989 murder. Florida, setting a state record with 19 executions in 2025, leads the country in death penalty cases. In the same year, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas each carried out five executions. The next scheduled execution in the U.S. is set for Florida, involving Melvin Trotter, convicted of murdering a grocery store owner during a robbery.
