9/21/2023 0 Comments Julius jones petitionJones’ case has attracted widespread attention in recent years, in part due to the ABC documentary series “The Last Defense,” which spotlighted his case in 2018. In a previous statement to CNN, daughter Rachel Howell called the narrative about Jones’ case “completely false” and evidence shows he is guilty.ĬNN has reached out to Howell for reaction to the board’s recommendation. We hope that Governor Stitt will exercise his authority to accept the Board’s recommendation and ensure that Oklahoma does not execute an innocent man,” said Amanda Bass, lead counsel for Jones.īut Howell’s family and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office have rejected Jones’ innocence claims and believe he’s guilty. “The Pardon and Parole Board has now twice voted in favor of commuting Julius Jones’s death sentence, acknowledging the grievous errors that led to his conviction and death sentence. The same parole board recommended commuting Jones’ sentence in September. But Jones, his attorneys and advocates – among them high-profile celebrities like Kim Kardashian West – insist he is innocent.įor nearly two decades, Jones has been on death row for a crime he did not commit, his clemency petition says, because of “fundamental breakdowns in the system tasked with deciding” his guilt, including ineffective and inexperienced defense attorneys, racial bias among his jury and alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Jones, who is Black, is scheduled to be executed November 18 for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell, whose sister and two young daughters were present when he was shot in the driveway of his parents’ home. His office said he is aware of the board’s action and there will be no further comment until his decision. Kevin Stitt gets the final say on Jones’ fate. Stitt to do the same by accepting their recommendation.” “I am grateful to the Pardon and Parole Board for again showing they are willing to listen to facts and reason, show compassion, and do what is in their power to right this terrible wrong. “My son Julius has been on death row for over twenty years for a murder he did not commit, and every day of that has been a waking nightmare for my family,” said Madeline Davis-Jones, in a statement through their attorney. The board voted 3-1 on Monday to recommend commuting Jones’ sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole, according to the release from the inmate’s attorneys. Jones pleaded his case to the board less than three weeks before he’s set to be executed. Stitt’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended granting clemency to Julius Jones, a man sentenced to death for a murder he says he did not commit. Stitt must decide whether to commute Jones’ sentence or let him be executed Thursday. Jones, along with other plaintiffs, have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol. Grant’s execution was the first following a six-year pause where the state said it worked to implement safeguards to make the process more humane, HuffPost reports. Last month, the state conducted a third botched execution that left John Marion Grant convulsing and vomiting as he died. Oklahoma has come under fire for a series of botched executions for inmates on death row. Attorneys Ben Crump and Eliza Orlins also urged for Stitt to grant clemency for Jones. Rapper Common and NBA players Blake Griffin, Trae Young and Russell Westbrook have also spoken out about the charges against Jones, Newsweek reports. The series reportedly caught the eye of Kim Kardashian West, who met with Jones in 2020. Jones’ case was included in The Last Defense, a 2018 docu-series produced by Viola Davis that examined his innocence. Jones and sentence him to death.” Key Background In a January 2019 petition to the Supreme Court, lawyers asked whether evidence that one juror called the trial a “waste of time” and used the N-word to refer to Jones “establishes that racial prejudice influenced the decision of at least one juror to convict Mr. Critics have also argued racial discrimination played a role in Jones’ conviction. Jordan, who testified against Jones at the trial, received a plea deal and served 15 years in prison for his role as the getaway driver. Jones did not match the description given by the lone witness of the crime-but Jones’ co-defendant, Christopher Jordan did, the Innocence Project claims. Jones had an alibi on the night of the murder, but his legal team failed to present his alibi at the trial and did not call Jones’ alibi witnesses to testify, according to The Death Penalty Information Center. West wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday about the “tragic miscarriage of justice” in Jones’ case, which rapper J Cole shared, calling the evidence that Jones is innocent “overwhelming.” Chief Critic
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