And put simply, I have doubts about this case,” Luck said on the day of Jones’s clemency hearing. “Personally, I believe in death penalty cases there should be no doubts. The third member, Larry Morris, was appointed by the court of criminal appeals. Stitt appointed two of the three members who voted to recommend clemency: Adam Luck and Kelly Doyle. After that, Kim Kardashian West and athletes with Oklahoma ties, including Mayfield and NBA stars Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and Trae Young, urged Stitt to commute Jones’s sentence. Jones’s case was profiled in The Last Defense, a documentary produced by the actor Viola Davis for ABC in 2018. Stouffer is scheduled to die on 9 December. In a separate vote on Wednesday, the board voted 3-2 to grant clemency to another death row inmate, Bigler Stouffer, citing concerns with state lethal injection protocols. Protesters react with joy as governor grants Julius Jones clemency – video “We need Julius Jones to be held responsible.” And he still feels no shame, guilt or remorse for his action,” Tobey said. “He is the same person today as he was 22 years ago. Paul Howell’s sister, Megan Tobey, testified she distinctly remembers seeing Jones shoot her brother in front of his two young daughters. The pardon and parole board twice voted 3-1 to recommend clemency. Jones says the weapon was placed there by the actual killer. Investigators found the murder weapon wrapped in a bandanna with Jones’s DNA in an attic space above his bedroom. Trial transcripts showed witnesses identified Jones as the shooter and placed him with Howell’s stolen vehicle. State and county prosecutors said the evidence against Jones was overwhelming. Jones maintains he was framed by the actual killer, a high school friend and co-defendant who testified against him and was released after 15 years. Do you want your baby, your child to be hanged?” “Why would I want to see someone hang? We should be through with that. “I don’t want to go to a lynching tomorrow,” Davis-Jones said. Jones’s mother, Madeline Davis-Jones, who tried unsuccessfully to meet Stitt on Monday, spoke to about 300 people, many students from high schools, who gathered on Wednesday outside Stitt’s office, chanting and singing hymns. It’s a shame that it’s gotten this far, 24 hours away.“īefore his decision, Stitt met with Jones’s attorneys and Howell’s family. Been trying to get the facts stated and the truth to be told for a while. “That’s not something that’s easy to talk about. “Yeah, it’s pretty rough, to be honest with you,” Mayfield told reporters on Wednesday, pausing and his eyes filling with tears. The Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Oklahoma is among several high-profile athletes and entertainers who have weighed in on Jones’s case. Prayer vigils were held at the state capitol and barricades were erected outside the governor’s mansion.Įven Baker Mayfield, quarterback for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, weighed in. Students at high schools across Oklahoma City walked out of classes. The impending execution had prompted protests across Oklahoma and the US. “After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” Stitt said in a statement. Jones, 41, has maintained his innocence for more than two decades but had been scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in McAlester. The parole board had recommended life with the possibility of parole. Stitt reduced Jones’s sentence for the murder in 1999 of Paul Howell, a businessman in the affluent Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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