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. Right after his sentence was commuted, she tweeted: "While Julius Jones's death sentence was commuted to life without parole on condition that he can never again apply for a pardon or commutation, this does not preclude Julius from pursuing legal exoneration in state or federal courts.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. Helen Prejean, a longtime opponent of capital punishment, has been calling for support for Jones on social media. Today we hold in prayer the families of both Paul Howell and Julius Jones and ask God for their continued healing." She also added that the "broken system of capital punishment revictimizes and retraumatizes the loved ones of victims and those condemned to death. We give thanks to God that Julius will not be executed today," she said.
#CLEMENCY JULIUS JONES TRIAL#
Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, the group's executive director, noted that problems with Jones' original trial and conviction are "numerous and well-documented. Stitt to issue Jones' sentence commutation, citing the widely publicized issues with his case which include racial bias, withheld evidence, inconsistencies, poor representation, junk science and more." And he had an alibi," the group said on its website.Ī statement by Catholic Mobilizing Network said: "Millions of advocates had urged Gov. He did not fit the description provided to the police.
#CLEMENCY JULIUS JONES FULL#
"While we had hoped the governor would adopt the board's recommendation in full by commuting Julius' sentence to life with the possibility of parole in light of the overwhelming evidence of Julius' innocence, we are grateful that the governor has prevented an irreparable mistake," she said.
Jones' attorney, Amanda Bass, said the Oklahoma governor "took an important step today toward restoring public faith in the criminal justice system by ensuring that Oklahoma does not execute an innocent man."
His case gained some high-profile attention after it was featured in a 2018 ABC documentary "The Last Defense." Jones was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die for the 1999 shooting death of a 45-year-old man, Paul Howell, during a carjacking.
1, to reduce Jones' sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Stitt reduced Jones' sentence to life in prison without parole, partially following a recommendation from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board but veering from that recommendation, reached in a 3-1 vote Nov. "I applaud his commitment to seeking justice while providing the condemned an opportunity for redemption," the archbishop said in a Nov. Stitt to grant clemency in this case," said Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City. "It took tremendous courage in the face of intense pressure for Gov. 18 announcement that the Oklahoma governor granted death-row inmate Julius Jones clemency - just hours before he was scheduled to be executed. Catholic opponents of the death penalty, including Oklahoma City's archbishop, praised the Nov.
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