Governor commutes Jones’ death sentence

OKLAHOMACITY— Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted the death sentence of con- demned inmate Julius Jones on Thursday, the day of his scheduled execution. Jones has proclaimed his innocence from death row for more than two decades in the 1999 kill- ing of a businessman.

Stitt commuted Jones’ death sentence to life impris- onment without the possi- bility of parole. He had been scheduled for execution on Thursday.

The state’s Pardon and Parole Board recommended in a 3-1 vote on Nov. 1 that Stitt commute Jones’ sentence to life in prison, with several members of the panel agreeing they had doubts about the evidence that led to Jones’ conviction.

Jones, 41, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die for the 1999 shooting death of business- man Paul Howell during a carjacking.

Jones’ case drew widespread attention after it was profiled in “The Last Defense,” a three-episode documentary produced by actress Viola Davis that aired on ABC in 2018. Since then, reality television star Kim Kardashian West and athletes with Oklahoma ties, including NBA stars Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Trae Young and Buddy Hield, and the NFL’S Blake Mayfield have urged Stitt to spare Jones’ life.

Jones alleges he was framed by the actual killer, a school friend and former co-defendant who was a key witness against him. But Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and the state’s former attorney general, Mike Hunter, have said the evidence against Jones is overwhelming.

Howell’s sister, Megan Tobey, and two daughters were in Howell’s SUV at the time of the carjacking. Tobey testified that she distinctly remembers seeing Jones shoot her brother.