Breaking News: Kendrick Simpson Executed After 19 Years on Death Row | Oklahoma Death Penalty Case –
On February 12th, 2026, after spending 19 years on death row, Kendrick Simpson was executed by lethal injection at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was 41 years old, but this isn’t just another execution story. This is about a boy who survived sexual abuse, five gunshots, and Hurricane Katrina, only to become the thing he feared most, a monster. His word, not mine.
In this video, we’re diving deep into one of the most controversial death penalty cases in recent Oklahoma history. A case that forces us to ask, when someone changes completely, do we execute who they were or who they became? Stay with me. This one’s complicated. Today’s case has been 20 years in the making.
To understand why Kendrick Simpson was executed today, we need to go back to January 15th, 2006. Oklahoma City, a Saturday night that started like any other weekend for a group of young people going out. Simpson was 22 years old. He’d only been in Oklahoma for four months, a Hurricane Katrina refugee who’d evacuated from New Orleans.
He went out that night with two friends, Jonathan Dwight Dalton and Latangelo Wayne Robertson, but Simpson made a decision that would seal his fate, despite his friends telling him not to. He brought an AK-style assault rifle with him. Remember that detail. It’s important. Around midnight, they arrived at Fritz’s, a hip-hop club in Oklahoma City, and this is where everything started to unravel.
Someone made a comment about Simpson’s red Chicago Cubs baseball cap. It seems almost trivial, doesn’t it? A comment about a hat. But it sparked an argument. Simpson, according to testimony, threatened to chop them up. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. Simpson approached the group he’d just been arguing with, extended his hand, and said, “We cool.
” Like he was trying to make peace. The confrontation seemed to be over. But Glenn Palmer, a 20-year-old who was part of the other group, didn’t trust the gesture. He punched Simpson to the ground. Both groups left the club. And honestly, the night could have ended right there. Simpson could have gone home, nursed his bruised ego, moved on with his life.
Glenn Palmer and his friend Anthony Jones could have done the same. But that’s not what happened. Both groups ended up at a 7-Eleven convenience store. And this is the moment where Kendrick Simpson made the decision that would cost two young men their lives, and ultimately cost him his own. Simpson directed his friend to follow Palmer’s vehicle.
They tracked the car for several miles through Oklahoma City streets. This wasn’t a split-second decision made in the heat of the moment. This was deliberate. This was a chase. Then Simpson opened fire. 20 rounds from an AK-style assault rifle tore into the vehicle. Glenn Palmer, 20 years old, was k!lled instantly.
Anthony Jones, 19 years old, was k!lled. London Johnson, also 19, was in the backseat. He survived, the sole witness to what happened in those terrible seconds. And Simpson’s own words afterward absolutely chilling. I’m a monster. I just shot the car up. They shouldn’t play with me like that. But he didn’t stop there.
According to prosecutors, Simpson then threatened his accomplices. He even attempted to arrange the murder of London Johnson, the surviving witness. He wanted to eliminate anyone who could testify against him. Think about that. Two young men were already dead. And Simpson was allegedly trying to k!ll a third person just to cover his tracks.
The trial began in 2007. Nine days. A jury of seven men and five women would decide Simpson’s fate. Simpson’s two friends, Dalton and Robertson, had already made their choices. They pleaded guilty to being accessories to murder. They received 20-year prison sentences. And they testified against Simpson. The evidence was overwhelming.
Beyond the testimony of his accomplices, a jail cellmate took the stand. He testified that Simpson showed no remorse, that he laughed about the crime, and that he wanted to k!ll potential witnesses. The prosecution painted a picture of a cold-blooded k!ller without conscience. A monster in human form.
But Simpson’s defense team tried to introduce something crucial. They’d hired Dr. Philip Massad, who evaluated Simpson and found it likely he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. And here’s where we need to pause and understand Simpson’s background. Because this is where the case gets complicated. Kendrick Simpson was born in New Orleans’ ninth ward to a teenage single mother struggling with crack cocaine addiction.
He was sexually abused as a child. He grew up surrounded by violence and poverty. By 8th grade, he dropped out of school entirely. But even by those standards, the months before his arrival in Oklahoma were catastrophic. In November 2004, just 14 months before the murders, Simpson was shot five times in a drive-by shooting.
The reason? He’d refused to harm another person. Those five bullets required 16 surgeries over 7 months. Simpson was still recovering when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005. One month later, in September 2005, he relocated to Oklahoma City as a displaced person. For months after that, he committed murder.
So, Simpson’s defense team had Dr. Massad ready to testify about PTSD, childhood sexual abuse, being shot five times, surviving Hurricane Katrina. The trauma was documented and real. But here’s the problem, and this becomes crucial later in the appeals process. The trial court granted the state’s motion to preclude PTSD testimony during the guilt phase of the trial.
The jury never heard the full extent of Simpson’s mental health issues while deciding whether he committed the murders. They only heard limited mental health evidence later during the sentencing phase when they were deciding whether Simpson should live or die. The jury convicted Simpson of two counts of first-degree murder with malice aforethought, discharging a firearm with intent to k!ll, and possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony. Then came sentencing decision.
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Would Kendrick Simpson live or die? It took the jury less than 2 hours to decide. Death. Two death sentences, one for each victim. Simpson was 22 years old when he k!lled Glenn Palmer and Anthony Jones. He was 23 when he was sentenced to death. And then Kendrick Simpson entered a system where time moves differently.
Death row isn’t a quick process. It’s measured in years, in appeals, in legal motions that can stretch on for decades. 19 years. That’s how long Simpson spent on death row. Nearly half his life. His entire adult existence, from age 22 onward, confined to a cell waiting for this moment.
But something unexpected happened during those years. Simpson changed. Or at least he appeared to change in ways that complicated the narrative of the remorseless k!ller presented at trial. On death row, Simpson earned his GED, the high school equivalency diploma he’d never obtained as a kid who dropped out in eighth grade. He took college courses.
He started writing. Eventually, he published a book containing poetry, short stories, and essays. Now, I want you to think about something. This is where the case becomes philosophically complex. The criminal justice system, particularly capital punishment, operates on a theory. The person who committed the crime is the person we punish.
But what happens when 19 years pass? Is a 41-year-old man the same person as the 22-year-old who fired those shots? If someone demonstrates genuine change, does that matter? Should it matter? Simpson’s legal team certainly thought it mattered. They filed appeal after appeal. In 2019, they took a case to the US Supreme Court arguing that Simpson’s trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance during the punishment phase.
The Supreme Court declined to consider the appeal. In October 2025, just months before his scheduled execution, Simpson’s attorneys filed a constitutional challenge to Oklahoma’s execution method in federal court. These legal challenges are common in capital cases. They rarely succeed. This one didn’t either.
The final chance came on January 14th, 2026. Just 29 days before his scheduled execution, Simpson appeared before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for a clemency hearing. This was it. The last real opportunity to present a case for why his life should be spared. Simpson spoke directly to the victims’ families.
“I’m not the worst of the worst,” he said. “I’m not a monster.” He expressed what his attorneys described as profound remorse. But the victims’ families were also present. And they made their position absolutely clear. They wanted the execution to proceed. From their perspective, Simpson took two young men from them.
Glenn Palmer and Anthony Jones didn’t get second chances. They didn’t get 19 years to earn degrees or write poetry. They got bullets and death. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board consists of five members. They voted. Three members voted to deny clemency. Two voted to grant it. Simpson lost.
On February 12th, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time, Kendrick Simpson was led into the execution chamber at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. For his last meal the night before, Simpson had chosen something simple, a bacon cheeseburger, large onion rings, and a strawberry milkshake. No elaborate feast, just comfort food. As he was strapped to the gurney inside the death chamber, Simpson’s family members and his legal team were present to witness his final moments.
Death penalty opponents had held vigils outside the penitentiary beginning at 9:00 a.m., an hour before the scheduled execution. Simpson’s final words were brief but poignant. “I love y’all,” he said to his family and members of his legal team. “Thank y’all for being here to support me.” His spiritual adviser, Reverend Don Heath, stood in the chamber and read scripture as the execution proceeded.
The three-drug protocol began. First, midazolam to sedate, then vecuronium bromide to halt breathing, and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart. The entire process lasted about 12 minutes. A doctor entered the room approximately 5 minutes after the first drugs began to flow and declared Simpson unconscious at 10:19 a.m. Central Time.
Kendrick Simpson was pronounced dead. Glen Palmer’s sister, Crystal Allison, was among the witnesses. She later described being disturbed by what she saw in those final moments. Simpson had smiled at his family members while strapped to the gurney. “The same smile that had been tormenting me for 20 years,” she said afterward.
“He still smiled that same smile laying on his deathbed.” Reverend Don Heath, Simpson’s spiritual adviser, offered a different perspective in a statement after the execution. “Kendrick was a kind, gentle man,” he’d said. “The scared youth who shot and k!lled two people died a long time ago. He is a new man. He didn’t deserve this.
No one does. His last words were to say goodbye to his family and friends in attendance. He was sleepy. He was ready to go. He met his death with peace and dignity.” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond released a statement shortly after the execution. “Justice has been served for Glenn Palmer and Anthony Jones,” Drummond said.
“Their young lives were taken tragically and far too soon. I hope today brings some measure of peace to their families who have endured unimaginable pain for the past 20 years.” This was Oklahoma’s first execution of 2026. It was the 17th execution since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 2021 after a 6-year moratorium following botched executions.
