If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable, you know, but it’s a real testament to just how broken the system is and what a desperate situation Julius Jones is in.” “Anytime someone can get a recommendation from the parole board, which is appointed to…make these kinds of decisions one Monday and the court in the same state says ‘well, because we can, we are going to go ahead and issue this date' the very next Monday. Cece Jones-Davis, a leader in the Justice for Julius movement, told.
“It’s just so dangerous and it makes it wholly apparent how broken our system is,” Rev. Kevin Stitt, who will decide whether to take the parole board’s recommendation or move forward with the execution-which was scheduled just one week after the parole board’s decision. Board members admitted they “have doubts” about the case, according to TIME.Īs time runs down until Jones’ scheduled execution, the final decision about his fate is now in the hands of Gov. Yet, earlier this month the Oklahoma Parole Board voted in a 3-1 decision to recommend commuting Jones’ sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole. And put simply, I have doubts about this case,” Luck said on the day of Jones’ clemency hearing.In less than two months, Julius Jones is set to die. “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. And the judge’s bailiff signed an affidavit saying the juror never reported this, as she said she did.Īlthough Jones has no pending appeals, the state’s Pardon and Parole Board twice voted 3-1 to recommend to the governor that Jones’ death sentence be commuted, each time citing doubts about the evidence in the case.
Julius jones update trial#
Prosecutors argue that when the trial judge asked her about this allegation the day after the alleged incident, she never mentioned the racial epithet. Jones and his family have maintained that he was at home with them on the night of Howell’s murder, eating dinner and playing games with his siblings, and that the jury was never presented this information at trial.Ī juror in Jones’ trial wrote in an affidavit after Jones’ conviction that during the trial another juror engaged in premature deliberations and used a racial epithet while saying they should take Jones behind the jail and shoot him. Jordan’s is not a persuasive showing of actual innocence.”
Prosecutors also note that a federal district court addressed this issue, noting “the length of (Jones’) hair compared to Mr. Jones has long said he was framed by Jordan, and that Jordan is the actual killer.īut prosecutors say Tobey testified she never saw braids and that her testimony was referring to how much hair was visible between the top of the ear and the stocking cap, not the hair length.
Jones’ attorneys suggest this was a better description of Jones’ co-defendant who testified against him, Christopher Jordan, who had corn-row braids at the time, and that the jury was never shown a photo of Jones taken a week before the murder that showed him with short, close-cropped hair. Paul Howell’s sister, Megan Tobey, who was an eyewitness to her brother’s killing testified in court that the gunman was wearing a stocking cap that came down “about a half an inch to an inch” above his ears, and that hair was sticking out from both sides. Stavros Lambrinidis sent a letter to Stitt, urging him to grant Jones clemency.įollowing are some of the key arguments made by Jones’ attorneys and the response from prosecutors. This week, Ambassador of the European Union to the U.S. Since then, reality television star Kim Kardashian West, who visited Jones in prison, and athletes with Oklahoma ties, including NBA stars Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and Trae Young, have urged Stitt to commute Jones’ death sentence and spare his life. The case has increasingly drawn attention since it was profiled in “The Last Defense,” a three-episode documentary produced by actress Viola Davis that aired on ABC in 2018 and outlined some of his defense team’s allegations. Jones has consistently maintained his innocence. Jones, now 41, was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1999 shooting death of Paul Howell, a businessman from an affluent Oklahoma City suburb. He is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday. Only hours are left for Stitt to decide whether Jones lives or dies. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The fate of Julius Jones - who has served almost 20 years on death row, even as numerous questions raised doubts about his guilt - rests with Oklahoma Gov. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.