'I'm not a monster': Oklahoma to execute Katrina evacuee for double murder

A Hurricane Katrina evacuee who became a death row inmate after killing two men in a hail of gunfire in Oklahoma City is set to become the second person executed in the U.S. this week.

Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Kendrick Antonio Simpson on Thursday, Feb. 12, for the double murder of two young men named Glen Palmer and Anthony Jones in 2006.

Simpson, 45, is a New Orleans native who fled to Oklahoma as a Hurricane Katrina refugee in 2005. His execution comes about a month after an emotional clemency hearing during which a parole board deciding his fate heard from the victims' families, a survivor of the shooting, and Simpson himself.

"I'm ashamed of being a murderer," Simpson told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. "I don't make any excuses, I don't blame others, and they didn't deserve what happened to them."

If it moves forward as expected, Simpson's execution will be the third in the U.S. this year and will come two days after Florida executed a death row inmate for killing a traveling salesman in 1989.

Here's what you need to know about Simpson's execution, why he says he should be spared from the death penalty and how the double murder affected the loved ones of the victims.

When is the execution?

Oklahoma is set to execute Kendrick Simpson at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12 at the state prison in McAlester, about 120 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.

What was Kendrick Simpson convicted of?

On Jan. 15, 2006, Kendrick Simpson loaded an assault rifle into his friend's car before they went to a house party and then to a club in Oklahoma City called Fritzi's.

While at the club, Simpson walked by three men who made a comment about his Chicago Cubs baseball cap. The men were three best friends named Glen Palmer, Anthony Jones and London Johnson.

After stewing about the comment, Simpson returned to the men and told them he was going to "chop" them up, a term he used when referring to his rifle, or his "chopper," according to court records. He walked away again but soon after returned, and in a gesture of peace, extended his hand to Palmer and said, "We cool." That's when Palmer punched Simpson in the mouth, knocking him to the floor, court records say.

Simpson and two friends soon after left the club and were at a gas station when Palmer, Jones and London arrived in Palmer's car. Though it was a coincidence, Simpson's attorneys say he thought the men were going to kill him.

Simpson then directed one of his friends to follow Palmer's car and the other friend to retrieve his gun, court records say. They followed Palmer, Jones and London for over 3 miles, and when the car Simpson was in pulled beside Palmer's car, he opened fire.

Nearly two dozen gunshots later, Palmer and Jones were dead, while London survived by crouching down in the backseat.

Simpson's friends testified against him at trial, and the jury found him guilty of murder. During the penalty phase, jurors also heard from a man named Hung Pham whom Simpson had beaten and shot in the face during a home invasion back in New Orleans. Simpson was just 16 years old at the time of the crime and served six years in prison for it.

The jury recommended that Simpson get the death penalty for killing Palmer and Jones.

A monster or a victim acting out?

Simpson's defense attorneys and prosecutors with the state paint two very different pictures of Kendrick Simpson.

His attorneys describe a man who grew up in the '80s and '90s in the lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, a notoriously violent place where prostitution, drugs, and murders ran rampant. Simpson's mom was 16 when he was born and became addicted to crack, and his dad abandoned him at birth.

"Some of Kendrick's earliest memories as a child include seeing dead bodies, shootings, stabbings, and other acts of violence on the grounds of the projects," attorney Emma Rolls told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board last month.

She said a family member began sexually abusing Simpson when he was 11 and that it lasted until he was 16 − the same age he was when he fathered two children and committed the home invasion shooting that landed him in prison for the next six years.

About a year after he got out, Rolls said Simpson was gunned down in a "drive-by attack," and sustained bullet wounds to the leg, chest, abdomen and skull, and nearly lost his life. While he was still recovering from the many surgeries he underwent and while he was still using a colostomy bag, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

By the time arrived in Oklahoma City, Rolls said Simpson's life experiences left him with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and in a state of fear and paranoia − setting what she said was the perfect stage for him to act out on the night he killed Palmer and Jones.

"I think it's really easy to dispel the humanity of somebody by reducing them to a one-dimensional character, like a monster," she said. "But it refuses to acknowledge the true nuance and facts of a living human ... He is so much more than what he did."

The state rejected those arguments. Brad Clark, legal counsel with the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, told the board that Simpson is "a violent repeat offender who has repeatedly chosen to prey upon others."

"What mercy did he show Glenn and Anthony? What compassion has he shown for their families?" he asked. "These families have endured an unimaginable loss and have now spent nearly 20 Christmases, birthdays, and other holidays without their loved ones."

He said that Oklahoma opened its arms to Hurricane Katrina refugees, including Simpson, who had an opportunity to start fresh.

"He could have chosen a lawful, path forward," Clark said. "But he chose to hunt down two unarmed men and attempt to kill a third. His crime was deliberate, cowardly and calculated. Make no mistake, he followed his victims for miles then pulled the trigger 20 times."

The parole board narrowly allowed Simpson's execution to move forward, voting 3-2 to deny him clemency.

Kendrick Simpson: 'I'm not a monster'

Shortly before the parole board turned down one of Simpson's last hopes to avoid execution, he apologized the loved ones of his victims and to London Johnson, the survivor of the shooting who witnessed his friends' murder.

"I'm ashamed of being the cause of such pain and hurt," Simpson said. But, "I'm not the worst of the worst. I'm not a monster."

Neither Johnson nor the victim family indicated that they accepted his apologies. Instead, they told them about their pain.

"The murder of my brother sent my family's whole world crashing," said Teleasha Jones, the sister of victim Anthony Jones. "When Kendrick Simpson took my brother's life, he took all our lives."

Johnson said he can still see his friends dying that terrible night in Oklahoma City. He tried to save both of them with CPR but the wounds were too grave.

"Those were my best friends, my brothers ... How many endless tears and sleepless nights of these images, of my friends, laying there bleeding out, suffering," he said. "Our hearts will forever be broken."

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers breaking news, cold case investigations and the death penalty for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.