Many urge clemency for death row inmate
Criminal justice reform, faith leaders and an Oklahoma County commissioner are urging the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board and Gov. Kevin Stitt to back clemency for death row inmate Julius D. Jones, whose claims of racial bias have been rejected by appeals courts.
“For over 20 years, (Jones) has been on Oklahoma's death row, though his conviction is marred by racial bias, an in effective public defense and snitch testimony, which we know has l ed to 85% of wrongful convictions in the United States,” Kris Steele and Susan Esco, of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform, wrote to Stitt and the board.
J ones, 39, was convicted of killing Paul Howell in the driveway of Howell's parents' home in Edmond in 1999 and sentenced to death.
Oklahoma County Commissioner Carrie Blumert sent a letter last week to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board requesting that Jones' sentence be commuted.
“The evidence used to convict Julius was inconsistent and several eye witnesses provided an alibi for Julius,” B lu me rt wrote .“The jury that sentenced Julius to death only included one black man and at least one juror harbored racial
prejudice that influenced his vote to convict and sentence Julius to death. The death penalty is the only sentence that we can not undo.”
The Most Rev. Paul S. C oakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, said in a statement on Tuesday, “The use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence. Taking another life does not ul timately bring closure and peace to those who have lost a loved one. … I urge the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board to consider commuting the death sentence for Julius Jones.”
Jones filed a petition for clemency last week stating that he was with his family when Howell was killed.
Jones also addressed the racial issues surrounding his case. Howell was white; Jones is black. Prosecutors deliberately steered the public and the jury toward racial bias and a juror made a racist comment during deliberations on his sentence, Jones said.
Jones' legal team unsuccessfully sought relief based on the report, disclosed 15 years after the trial, of a racist remark by a juror.
Victoria Armstrong, a juror in the 2002 trial in Oklahoma County, told Jones' lawyers in 2017 that another juror had commented outside the courtroom that he considered the trial proceedings “all a waste of time” and that “they should just take the (racial epithet) out and shoot him behind the jail.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in April declined to review the case f or racial bias. Before that, other state and federal courts had upheld the conviction and death sentence. Having exhausted his appeals, Jones is eligible for an execution date when the state resumes executions.
The Oklahoma attorney general's office told the Supreme Court that Jones' case didn't merit review because Jones “has utterly failed to demonstrate that the factual or legal bases for his claim were previously unavailable.”