READ MORE: An Open Letter to the Governor of OklahomaĪdvocates also argued that Jones’ co-defendant, Christopher Jordan, a key witness in Jones’ conviction, has confessed to both the crime and framing Jones Jordan’s attorney denies this. In a video released last week by Justice for Julius - a nonprofit organization dedicated to Jones’ defense - one of the original defense attorneys assigned to Jones’ case admitted her team had not been prepared to adequately represent a client in a death penalty case and asked Stitt to grant clemency. “The only difference between Julius is you know his name.”Īdvocates had argued there was compelling evidence that Jones was wrongfully convicted, including discrepancies between Jones’ appearance and an eyewitness description of the shooter as well as an alibi jurors never heard due to Jones’ inexperienced legal counsel. Keith Jossell, Jones’ faith adviser, told reporter Sawyer Buccy, “Julius wants you to know there are thousands of people that are just like him, that are incarcerated in the justice system that have been falsely accused,” Jossell said.
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Jones’ attorney Amanda Bass responded to the governor’s decision in a statement: “While we had hoped that the Governor would adopt the Board’s recommendation in full by commuting Julius’ sentence to life with the possibility of parole in light of the overwhelming evidence of Julius’ sentence, we are grateful that the Governor has prevented an irreparable mistake.” Though the governor’s executive order bars Jones from applying for, being considered for, or receiving “any additional commutation, pardon, or parole,” anti-death penalty advocate Sister Helen Prejean said in a tweet that “this does not preclude Julius from pursuing legal exoneration in state or federal courts.” That's what the Arizona team of Baich and Bass has done.“After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” said Stitt in a statement issued on Thursday around noon in Oklahoma. "An innocent man hangs his hat upon the truth, not upon lies and half-truths and smoke and mirrors," said McKenzie. McKenzie encouraged everyone to read the transcripts and not be led "blindly." If he were to speak to the Howells, he told News 9 he would tell them he feels responsible for the direction the docuseries that featured Jones' case took. McKenzie said he hasn't spoken to Jones in more than a decade. "I'm not really seeing the ineffectiveness that I thought may have been there years ago when I wrote affidavits, and I wrote a couple of them with regards to my performance," said McKenzie Did it play a part to the exclusion of a fair trial? Well, the courts that have looked at this have disagreed with that."Īs for his performance 20 years ago, McKenzie said he read the transcripts recently. "I think that, and I've always said this, that racism played a part in it.
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"I don't think his trial was fair," said McKenzie. Jones current legal team argues their client had ineffective counsel, an unfair trial and Jones is an innocent man. "But the main one that I was concerned about is, I needed his parents not to get up on the stand and lie during the first stage, so they could beg for their son's life in the second stage." "The alibi, the family alibi as I call it, is completely bogus, false, and could not have been run for a bunch of reasons," said McKenzie. He also told News 9 Jones made the decision to not take the stand himself.
"The jury never heard the testimony of Julius' mother, father, sister, (and) brother," said Amanda Bass, a federal public defender.īut David McKenzie, Jones' original defense attorney, stands by that decision now two decades later.
Jones is currently on death row for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell. His family and supporters have been adamant that his initial defense was inadequate. Julius Jones is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. WEB EXTRA: Julius Jones' Original Defense Attorney Speaks Out Before Jones' Scheduled Execution
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