Hundreds of activists and schools gathered outside the State Capitol in Oklahoma, trying to persuade the Gov. Kevin Stitt to “commute the sentence of Julius Jones”
Julius Jones is scheduled to be executed on Thursday.
Hundreds of schools and activists gathered outside the office of Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma as a final attempt to urge him to grant clemency to an inmate waiting to be executed on Thursday.
Julius Jones is convicted of the first-degree murder of Paul Howell and was sentenced to death in 2002. He is accused of killing Paul Howell in the driveway of his parent’s place. Howell was carjacked and shot to death in 1999.
Julius Jones was 19 at that time and a famous high school basketball player hailing from Oklahoma City. He continued to plead that he did not commit the crime of killing Paul Howell who was a businessman hailing from Edmond.
Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole board recommended in September that the death sentence of Mr. Jones should be commuted into life imprisonment with a possibility of parole. This significant step garnered national attention towards the campaign called “Justice for Julius.”
Everything lies on Mr. Stitt now, whether he will accept or reject the recommendation of the Pardon and Parole board.
Julius Jones is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday.
“We are hoping and believing and trusting that the governor is still going to do the right thing,” Ms. Jones-Davis said on Wednesday. “But we are coming down to the hour.”
Ms. Jones-Davis is leading the campaign Justice for Jones.
More than 1800 students from different schools across Oklahoma City participated in the walkouts in lieu of supporting Mr. Jones on Wednesday.
The students exercised their right of freedom of expression peacefully by assembling outside the office of the Republicans.
Julius Jones’s mother, Madeline Davis- Jones stated that her son is innocent.
“If my child is executed tomorrow, or any day, it should be without a doubt,” she said. “There shouldn’t be a doubt. Not even a little bit of doubt.”
