Kendrick Simpson was executed in 2006 for murdering two men who were fighting at a nightclub in Oklahoma by tailing them and firing 20 bullets into their car.
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A Hurricane Katrina evacuee who killed two men in a hail of gunfire in Oklahoma City 20 years ago became the second person executed in the United States this week.
Oklahoma executed Kendrick Antonio Simpson on Thursday, February 12, for the 2006 murders of two young men, Glenn Palmer and Anthony Jones. He was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m. Central Time.
Simpson, 45, is a New Orleans native who fled to Oklahoma in 2005 as a Hurricane Katrina refugee. Simpson’s execution came about a month after an emotional pardon hearing in which the parole board, which will decide his fate, heard from the victims’ families, survivors of the shootings and Simpson himself.
Simpson told the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole that he was “ashamed to be a murderer” and did not deserve the death penalty. “I’m not the worst of the worst. I’m not a monster.”
In a 3-2 vote, the board narrowly approved moving up Simpson’s execution after hearing from his lawyers how he rehabilitated himself in prison, earned his GED, became a “devoted father” to his two sons, and deeply regretted the murder.
“In the name of ‘justice,’ the state chose to perpetuate the cycle of trauma rather than end it, taking the life of a man who spent years learning how to make a better life for others,” Simpson’s attorney Emma Rawls said in a statement shortly after Simpson was pronounced dead. “This execution was a grave and unnecessary loss.”
The state scoffs at Mr. Simpson’s claims for relief and requests for mercy. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement last month that the parole board made the right decision, calling Simpson “a ruthless, violent killer who hunted down his victims without remorse.”
What was Kendrick Simpson convicted of?
On January 15, 2006, Kendrick Simpson loaded an assault rifle into a friend’s car before going to a house party and then going to a club called Fritz’s in Oklahoma City.
While at the club, Simpson passed three men who commented on his Chicago Cubs baseball cap. The men were three close friends named Glenn Palmer, Anthony Jones, and London Johnson.
After thinking about the comment, Simpson returned to the men and told them he was going to “cut them up,” according to court records. That’s the term Simpson used to refer to his rifle or “chopper,” prosecutors said. He left again, but soon returned, holding out his hand to Palmer in a gesture of peace and saying, “We’re cool.” That’s when Palmer punched Simpson in the mouth and knocked him to the floor, according to court records.
Shortly after leaving the club, Simpson and two friends were at a gas station when Palmer, Jones and London arrived in Palmer’s car. Simpson’s lawyers say that, by chance, Simpson thought the men were going to kill him.
Simpson then directed one of his friends to follow Palmer’s car and another to retrieve the gun, according to court records. They pursued Palmer, Jones, and London for more than three miles, and when the car Simpson was in stopped next to Palmer’s car, Simpson opened fire.
After nearly 20 gunshots, Palmer and Jones were dead, but London survived, crouching in the back seat.
At trial, jurors heard testimony about the shooting from Simpson’s friends. During the sentencing phase, where a person’s criminal history is considered, jurors also heard from a man named Hung Pham, whom Simpson punched and shot in the face during a home invasion in New Orleans. Simpson was just 16 years old at the time of the crime and served six years in prison for the crime.
The jury found Simpson guilty of the murders of Palmer and Jones and recommended the death penalty.
Is it played by the monster or the victim?
Simpson grew up in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, a notoriously violent place rife with prostitution, drugs, and murder during the ’80s and ’90s. Simpson’s mother was 16 years old when he was born and became addicted to crack, and his father abandoned him at birth.
“Kendrick’s earliest memories as a child include seeing dead bodies, shootings, stabbings, and other acts of violence on the project grounds,” attorney Emma Rawls told the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole last month.
She said a family member began sexually abusing Simpson when he was 11 years old, and it continued until he was 16. Simpson was the same age he was when he raised two children and went to prison for six years after committing a home invasion shooting.
About a year after he was released from prison, Mr. Rawls said Mr. Simpson was shot in a “vehicle attack” that nearly killed him, suffering gunshot wounds to the leg, chest, abdomen and skull. He was still recovering from the many surgeries he had undergone and was using a colostomy bag when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
By the time she arrived in Oklahoma City, Rawls said Simpson’s life experiences had caused her to suffer from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and was in a state of fear and paranoia. She said this was the perfect setting for Ms Simpson to take action on the night she killed Palmer and Jones.
“I think it’s very easy to remove the humanity of someone by reducing them to a one-dimensional character, like a monster,” she said. “But it refuses to acknowledge the real nuances and facts of a living human being… He’s far beyond what he’s done.”
The state rejected that depiction. Brad Clark, general counsel for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, told the board that Simpson was a “violent repeat offender who repeatedly chose to prey on others.”
“What mercy did he show Glenn and Anthony? What compassion did he show their families?” he asked. “These families have endured unimaginable loss and have now spent nearly 20 years of Christmas, birthdays and other holidays without their loved ones.”
He said the state of Oklahoma extended its reach to Hurricane Katrina evacuees, including Simpson, and they had a chance to get a fresh start.
“He could have chosen a legal path forward,” Clark said. “But he made the choice to corner two unarmed men and attempt to kill a third. His crime was premeditated, cowardly and calculated. Make no mistake, he chased his victims for miles and then pulled the trigger 20 times.”
Kendrick Simpson: “I’m not a monster”
Simpson’s lawyers said he became a prolific poet while in prison and was published in the Rose State Literary Journal. Shortly after his execution, they shared excerpts from some of his writings about the state of Oklahoma’s pursuit of his execution.
“Like a mad dog who claims to have bitten too many people, I too must be executed,” he wrote, calling his execution “state-sanctioned murder.”
“It seems the height of hypocrisy to be killed for murder,” he wrote. “But they are committing murder under the banner of justice, so there must be a difference.”
As he lay on the execution stretcher Thursday, Simpson kept his last words short and smiled as he thanked his family for their support. “I love you all,” he said.
Crystal Allison, whose brother Glenn Palmer was killed by Simpson, witnessed the execution and said she was disappointed that Simpson did not apologize.
“I’m still hurting and struggling with this,” she told reporters, according to the USA TODAY Network’s Oklahoman newspaper. “Today, I was tormented. Even on my deathbed, he is smiling.”
When is the next execution?
Simpson’s execution was the third in the United States this year, and came two days after a man on death row was executed in Florida in 1989 for the murder of a traveling salesman.
The next execution in Florida is scheduled for February 24th, when Melvin Trotter will be executed for the 1986 murder of 70-year-old Virgie Langford during a convenience store robbery.
Florida continues its record-breaking execution pace this year. In 2025, the state executed 19 inmates, a state record and far more than any other state in the nation in that year. The states that executed the second most prisoners in 2025 were Texas, Alabama, and South Carolina, with five each.
Nationwide, 47 inmates were executed in each state in 2025. The figure is the highest in 15 years, and experts blame the country’s political climate, largely under pro-death penalty President Donald Trump and a more conservative Supreme Court.
Contributor: Nolan Clay, The Oklahoman
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter covering breaking news, cold case investigations and the death penalty for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
