The governor of Oklahoma saved the life of convicted murderer Julius Jones
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41-year-old Jones was scheduled to be executed by poison injection in Oklahoma at 4 pm local time on Thursday. His case has garnered national attention since the last Oklahoma appeals body last week recommended that his sentence be commuted to life in prison.
Jones was sentenced to death for the murder of businessman Paul Howell after a car hijacking in 1999. He has always claimed his innocence and claimed that it was his co-defendant who was responsible for the murder. However, prosecutors have said that the evidence against Jones was overwhelming and that the death penalty had to be upheld. Jones’ team of lawyers has presented a letter from an inmate at a prison in Arkansas stating that Christopher Jordan, who was with Jones when Howell was killed, has confessed to the murder against him.
–Just hours before the death sentence was to be carried out, Governor Kevin Stitt decided that the sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment, writes AP.
– After carefully reviewing and evaluating material from all sides, I have decided to turn the sentence into life imprisonment without the possibility of release.
Jones’ supporters erupted in applause outside the Oklahoma State Capitol.
– Today we can celebrate. It is a day to recognize everyone who has come together and fought for Julius, says the pastor Keith Jossell.
–His mother is also relieved by the governor’s decision.
“For over 20 years I have been haunted by the thought of seeing my boy die in an execution room for a murder that was committed while he was at home with his family,” says mother Madeline Davis Jones.
She believes her son has served his sentence without any reason for it, and promises to fight on for him to be acquitted.
Ten people have so far been executed this year in the United States, according to deathpenaltyinfo.org. This is the same number as last year.
The state of Oklahoma has set a date for another six executions, one a month from October to March.
Yesterday Mississippi carried out its first execution since 2012.
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