Oklahoma Governor Faces Pressure To Stop Julius Jones' Execution

Calls are mounting for Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt to accept the recommendation of the state's Pardon and Parole Board to commute the death sentence of Julius Jones.

Jones, 41, has been on death row for more than two decades for the 1999 killing of businessman Paul Howell, but has always maintained he is innocent.

On Monday, the parole board voted 3-1 for Stitt, a Republican, to commute his sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole after several panel members said they had doubts about the evidence that led to Jones being convicted.

The board had also recommended Jones' sentence be commuted in September, but Stitt's office said the governor would wait until after the clemency hearing was over.

After Monday's vote, Stitt's spokesperson Carly Atchison said in a statement that his office would not comment until the governor made his decision. Asked by Newsweek if there was any word on when that might be, Charlie Hannema, Stitt's chief of communications, said "no."

Jones' family and advocates are anxiously awaiting Stitt's decision as his November 18 execution date approaches.

That urgency has ramped up further after Oklahoma resumed executions following a six-year pause last week, after the Supreme Court lifted stays of executions put in place for John Grant and Jones by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Witnesses said Grant vomited and convulsed repeatedly after the sedative midazolam was administered during a lethal injection that experts said was "botched," but the Department of Corrections said was carried out "without complication."

"What happened to Mr. Grant was terrible, and furthers our resolve to fight for Julius' life," Jones' sister Antoinette Jones told Newsweek.

On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus held a news conference calling on Stitt to accept the parole board's recommendation.

Caucus chair Rep. Jason Lowe said Jones' case is "filled with doubt." That includes faulty identification, junk science and Jones' legal representation, he said.

"This young man has asserted his innocence over the last 20 years," Lowe said, adding that members of the caucus had visited Jones at the state penitentiary in McAlester two months ago.

"He bleeds just like you and I, he smiles, he laughs and he is a human being," Lowe added. "We're asking the governor to do the right thing. Follow your board's recommendation, the board that you have appointed."

The caucus also said that Stitt should not take the half-step of commuting Jones' sentence to life without parole.

"We're not even talking about political prices here," state Rep. Regina Goodwin said. "We're talking about the price of a life. We're talking about the price of a family that's son has been incarcerated for some 22 years. And we're saying, if you have not committed the murder, why in the world would you spend the rest of your life in prison? It's that simple... this is an opportunity for the state to get it right."

Meanwhile, numerous conservative and evangelical leaders have joined other organizations in writing letters to convince Stitt to accept the parole board's recommendation.

"Our belief is that if the death penalty is imposed, it should be done so only in the gravest of circumstances, and even then, when there is absolutely no question about the defendant's guilt," wrote Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and Timothy Head, executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, in a letter dated October 22.

"The facts of the Julius Jones case leave open the possibility of his being innocent of the murder for which he has been convicted."