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.
Will Joyce, mayor of Stillwater, took to Twitter to express his support for the Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation that Stitt grant Jones clemency on Wednesday, the day before Stitt made his decision to reduce Jones' sentence.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. Howell's sister, who witnessed her brother's murder, maintains that she saw Jones fire the gun - Jones' DNA was later found on a bandana the gun used to kill Howell was wrapped in. Jones' mother, Madeline Davis-Jones, has been one of his most outspoken supporters, asserting that Jones was with her at home during the time of Howell's murder. Jones' mother among those who protested his innocence Jones was 19 at the time of the murder and still maintains his innocence, offering instead that co-collaborator Christopher Jordan committed the crime and framed Jones by placing the murder weapon in Jones' parents' house. Jones, 41, has been on death row since 2002, when he was convicted for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell. Under that scenario, Jones would have immediately been eligible for parole on his murder conviction. Stitt's decision veers from the Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation to reduce Jones' sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole. "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.Īs a condition of granting clemency, Stitt ordered that Jones shall never be eligible to apply for or be considered for a commutation, pardon, or parole for the rest of his life.
local time Thursday for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell.įollowing a recommendation from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, Stitt on Thursday granted clemency to Jones, reducing the inmate's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jones had been scheduled for execution at 4 p.m. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has spared the life of high-profile death row inmate Julius Jones by reducing his sentence from the death penalty to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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