Monday’s pending motion was filed by Jones, Postelle and John and Donald Grant. The ruling said, “The district court abused its discretion in certifying its judgment as final,” according to court documents.
Julius jones petition trial#
Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled the six men should not have been dismissed from the suit, which is scheduled to go to trial in February. Bigler Stouffer, another inmate scheduled for execution, was not a part of the lawsuit. However, a district court ruled in August six inmates, including Jones, should be dropped from the lawsuit because they failed to pick an alternative method for their own executions, citing moral and religious prohibitions against “being complicit in their own deaths in a way which they believe would be akin to suicide or assisting suicide,” according to a motion filed Wednesday.Įxecution dates for Jones and the others who had been dismissed - John Marion Grant, Wade Lay, Donald Grant, Gilbert Postelle and James Coddington - were set shortly after. district court the state would not move forward with executing the plaintiffs until the lawsuit was resolved. Executions in the state were put on hold the next year when a second man was executed using a drug not approved by state protocol.ĭuring a hearing of the suit, former Attorney General Mike Hunter told the U.S. The lawsuit was filed after the 2014 execution of Clayton Lockett, who suffered a slow, painful death when a drug which had not been used for executions in Oklahoma before was improperly administered. The motion stems from a 2014 lawsuit brought by more than 30 Oklahoma deathrow inmates arguing that the state’s lethalinjection protocol is unconstitutional. Monday which could stay the executions of Jones and others scheduled to be put to death.
“I am not accepting the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation to commute the sentence of Julius Jones because a clemency hearing, not a commutation hearing, is the appropriate venue for our state to consider death row cases,” Stitt said in a letter to the board.īefore Jones’ Tuesday hearing, the Western District Court of Oklahoma is scheduled to hear a motion at 9 a.m. Kevin Stitt, who declined to commute Jones’ sentence and said the clemency will provide a better examination of the situation. In dissent was member Richard Smothermon, who expressed concern about “misconduct” violations Jones has received in prison. Voting in favor were Chairman Adam Luck, Vice Chairman Larry Morris and member Kelly Doyle. “They are the very same failures which were identified in the 2017 bipartisan report of the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission as creating ‘the unacceptable risk of executing the innocent.’”ĭuring a commutation hearing in September, the Pardon and Parole Board voted 3-1 to recommend Jones’ sentence be commuted to life with the possibility of parole. “These and other systemic failures led to Julius’s wrongful conviction,” the petition says. He also argues racial bias played a role in his conviction. He claims he had inadequate council and the jury never heard potentially exculpatory evidence during the trial. In Jones’ petition seeking clemency from the board, he maintains his innocence. Lawyers representing Jones and state prosecutors will each have 40 minutes to address the board, with the option to reserve some of the time for rebuttal. Meanwhile, the board which will hear the clemency case has been under fire from Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor, who have tried to get two board members disqualified from hearing Jones’ case, saying they have a political conflict of interest.Īs Julius Jones’ final hearing approaches, here’s where things stand.Īt the hearing Tuesday, Jones will have 20 minutes to make his case in front of the board, as will members of Howell’s family. Though the clemency hearing will be the last chance for Jones to have his sentence changed, recent developments in a longstanding lawsuit regarding Oklahoma’s death-penalty procedures could delay the executions of Jones and others scheduled to be put to death in coming weeks.
His execution is scheduled for November 18. Jones has always maintained his innocence, and his case has attracted national and celebrity attention in recent months. The hearing marks his final chance to be taken off death row. Julius Jones, who is on death row for the 1999 murder of Edmond resident Paul Howell, will appear in front of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for a clemency hearing Tuesday. The article below remains in its original form.) The decision immediately was appealed, causing Julius Jones’ clemency hearing to be postponed until 9 a.m. Monday, Judge Stephen Friot denied the request for a stay discussed in the article below. (Editor’s Note: This article originally was published October 23.
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