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Julius Jones. Photo of Oklahoma department of corrections
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Convicted murderer Julius Jones was to be executed at 4 p.m. local time in Oklahoma. He continues to plead not guilty to the 1999 murder, for which he received the death penalty. However, four hours before the execution of the sentence, the governor of the state Kevin Steet canceled the execution and replaced the death sentence of Jones with life imprisonment without the right to release, bg-voice.com reports.
Earlier, the U.S. Pardon and Early Release Commission voted 3-1 with a recommendation that Jones’ sentence be commuted to life imprisonment with parole. The governor delayed the decision, which strained the nerves of Jones, his family, and the choir, who believed in his innocence.
Jones has been on the death row for 20 years for killing Paul Howell in 1999 during a car theft. He says he is innocent, as have his family, lawyers and supporters. However, the victim’s family is convinced that the right person has been convicted.
In recent years, the case of Jones has attracted widespread attention, especially after the CNN documentary series “The Last Defense” from 2018. More than 6 million people have signed an online petition to Governor Stit to stop the execution.
The case is full of contradictions. Jones’ family provided him with an alibi for the time of the murder, but it was shaken during the interrogations, and he himself later said that he was not at home that night. The murder weapon was found in his home, wrapped in a towel, but according to the pardon petition, the other defendant in the case, Christopher Jordan, had said unofficially that he had killed Howell and hid the weapon from Jones.
However, Jordan only escaped a conviction for complicity and denied in his testimony that he had confessed to anything. He was released from prison in 2014.
DNA tests from the towel in which the weapon was wrapped also pointed to Jones and excluded Jordan, but the petition challenged them, declaring them restricted.
Support for the convict intensified as the date of execution approached. His supporters gathered at a rally near the governor’s mansion in Oklahoma City over the past few days, and some even stayed there in tents overnight.
Calls for clemency also came from a number of celebrities, including reality star Kim Kardashian, artists Carrie Washington and Mandy Patinkin, and quarterback Baker Mayfield.
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