Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt has referred to as off the execution of demise row inmate Julius Jones, simply hours earlier than the person was set to die by deadly injection at an Oklahoma jail. Jones was sentenced to demise for the 1999 homicide of Paul Howell within the Oklahoma Metropolis suburbs, a criminal offense he says he didn’t commit.
“After prayerful consideration and reviewing supplies introduced by all sides of this case, I’ve decided to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment with out the opportunity of parole,” governor Stitt mentioned in an announcement on Thursday.
Cheers erupted outdoors the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and the Oklahoma state home, the place demonstrators had been holding vigils, making an attempt to steer Governor Stitt to cease the execution.
Jones turned the topic of a passionate nationwide “Justice for Julius” innocence motion, whose supporters claimed he wasn’t given a good trial, and that Oklahoma’s felony justice system has a well-documented bias towards younger Black males.
Jones’s public defenders celebrated the result, saying the governor had stopped the state from making “an irreparable mistake.”
“Governor Stitt took an necessary step at this time in direction of restoring public religion within the felony justice system by making certain that Oklahoma doesn’t execute an harmless man,” mentioned lawyer Amanda Bass in an announcement on Thursday.
This fall, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board advisable twice that Jones be taken off of demise row and given the possibility at parole, a primary in state historical past, however the governor’s choice precludes this chance.
The official order halting the execution stipulates that Jones “shall by no means once more be eligibly to use for, be thought of for, or obtain any extra commutation, pardon, or parole.”
Extra particulars to come back on this breaking information story…