{"id":20420,"date":"2021-11-19T05:21:07","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T10:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=20420"},"modified":"2021-11-19T05:21:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T10:21:07","slug":"julius-jones-oklahoma-prisoners-execution-halted-at-last-minute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/11\/19\/julius-jones-oklahoma-prisoners-execution-halted-at-last-minute\/","title":{"rendered":"Julius Jones: Oklahoma prisoner&#8217;s execution halted at last minute"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\"><b class=\"ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Oklahoma&#8217;s governor has halted the execution of prisoner Julius Jones hours before he was due to be put to death.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Kevin Stitt said he was commuting the sentence to life imprisonment without parole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Hundreds of students earlier walked out of school demanding clemency for Jones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Jones was sentenced to death in 2002 for killing Paul Howell during a carjacking three years earlier. He maintains his innocence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">His case has attracted the support of celebrities including reality TV star Kim Kardashian and anti-death penalty activists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Jones&#8217; execution by lethal injection was scheduled for 16:00 local time (2200 GMT) at the state penitentiary in McAlester.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">But Gov Stitt, a Republican, said he intervened &#8220;after prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones\u2019 sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fLsnYnxInw\">https:\/\/t.co\/fLsnYnxInw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovStitt\/status\/1461401100519673858?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The state&#8217;s Pardon and Parole Board earlier recommended in a 3-1 majority vote that Jones&#8217; sentence be commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The case has attracted widespread attention in recent years, partly due to the 2018 ABC documentary series &#8220;The Last Defense&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">More than six million people have signed a Justice for Julius petition which states he was put on death row because of &#8220;fundamental breakdowns in the system tasked with deciding&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Jones was found guilty of fatally shooting Mr Howell, an insurance executive, during a 1999 carjacking on his driveway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">In October, he was among five people who won stays of execution from a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit US Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">&#8220;I did not kill Mr Howell,&#8221; he wrote in a letter to the parole board in April, after exhausting his appeals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">&#8220;I did not participate in any way in his murder; and the first time I saw him was on television when his death was reported.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i85\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-18snukc-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">But Mr Howell&#8217;s relatives have said Jones&#8217; calls for clemency have victimised them further.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-59331978\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Oklahoma&#8217;s governor has halted the execution of prisoner Julius Jones hours before he was due to be put to death. Kevin Stitt said he was commuting the sentence to life imprisonment without parole. Hundreds of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/11\/19\/julius-jones-oklahoma-prisoners-execution-halted-at-last-minute\/\" title=\"Julius Jones: Oklahoma prisoner&#8217;s execution halted at last minute\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,3],"tags":[9,7612,1048],"class_list":{"0":"post-20420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-usa","10":"tag-execution","11":"tag-julius-jones","12":"tag-oklahoma","13":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20420"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20422,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20420\/revisions\/20422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}