Julius Jones is scheduled to be executed today and the governor of Oklahoma has yet to decide whether he will reduce the death penalty.

The 11-hour decision came after years of protests over Jones’ death sentence.

Jones has been sentenced to death for nearly 20 years in connection with the 1999 murder of Paul Howell. Jones says he is innocent, as are his family, lawyers and supporters. However, Howell’s family still believes in Jones’ guilt.

Supporters protest at the governor’s mansion

At a news conference on Wednesday night, Jones’ mother described her son’s scheduled execution as akin to an execution.

“If you think Julius is guilty, give him a fair trial. Do it again, do it right!” Davis-Jones said as the crowd erupted into applause. “If my child is executed tomorrow or any day, it will certainly happen. There is no doubt.”

Mayfield told reporters Wednesday as he broke down in tears. Mayfield played football at the University of Oklahoma. “Hopefully God can step in and handle it correctly and do the things that He needs to do.”

Support for Jones has also spread internationally, with a representative from the European Union weighing in on a letter to Stitt.

Victim’s daughter says family has been ‘re-victimized’

Howell was killed in a car robbery on the night of July 28, 1999. Around 9:30 p.m., Howell, his adult sister, and his daughters pulled into his parents’ driveway in Suburban five. 1997, according to court documents. According to court documents, Howell’s sister told his daughters to pack up and was leaving the car when they heard a gunshot.

Howell’s sister glanced back, court documents said, and saw a Black man she said was wearing jeans, a white T-shirt, a black cap and a red scarf over his face. . Documents say the gunman opened fire again as Howell’s sister and his daughters ran to the house. Howell died at about 1:45 a.m. the next morning.

Jones, 19 years old at the time, was arrested on July 31, a day after authorities found the murder weapon wrapped in a red bandana in his family home.

He was on trial alongside a co-defendant, Christopher Jordan, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a robbery, according to online court records. Jordan testified against Jones, who was convicted and sentenced to death.

Howell’s daughter, Rachel Howell, and her family believe Jones was guilty of killing her father. She said in a statement to CNN that Jones, his family and the defense team “want people to believe that Julius Jones is completely innocent, despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against him.”

“Overall, this has been difficult for our family,” she said, “as we continue to fall victim to Julius Jones when we’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.”

Julius Jones’ mother, Davis-Jones, said the past two decades have been “a waking nightmare for my family”, but she said she will pray for the Howell family.

“I know what it feels like to have a loved one leave you and reminisce about the loss. I hope and pray they find healing and peace,” Davis-Jones said.

There are conflicting stories about the evidence in Jones’ case

The case was marked by stark contradictions in the evidence against Jones, as well as questions about the reliability of the co-defendant’s testimony.

First, there is an alibi. Jones’ family said he was at home the night of the murder, according to the clemency petition.

Attorney General Mike Hunter’s office said the alibi was thoroughly investigated and unreliable, adding that this claim was discovered during an evidence hearing held by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. command.

Jones himself was also inconsistent about where he was on the night of the murder, AG’s office said, adding two attorneys for Jones’ trial testified that he told them his family I made a mistake and he wasn’t home when Howell was killed.

Another point of contention is about a red bandana, found in the Jones family home with the murder weapon wrapped in it.

The clemency petition cites several individuals as saying his co-defendant, Christopher Jordan, admitted to killing Howell and hiding a weapon and bandana in Jones’ home.

The petition also said Jordan spent the night at the home the day after the murder.

The AG’s office pointed out the DNA test was performed at the request of the defense on the red bandana. The office said in a document released in July 2020, the results showed that the main component of the DNA profile matched Jones and excluded Jordan.

In response, Jones’ team said DNA test results were limited and Jordan’s DNA could not be ruled out.

The jury was also not shown a photo of Jones, taken days before Howell was killed, which the petition says did not match the gunman’s description. Several jurors have come forward and pointed out that this evidence may have changed the outcome of the case.

Then there’s the supposed issue of racial bias in this case. According to the petition, one juror said they heard another juror refer to Jones as the n-word. Additionally, when Jones was arrested, a police officer also called him by the word, the lawsuit alleges.

AG’s office opposes racial prejudice claims, noting that jurors who claim to have heard another use of the word n-word did not specifically raise the issue during the trial. Jones. She drew the court’s attention to another juror’s comment, but according to AG’s office, an appellate found it unlikely that jurors would not refer to the racial symbol when she Other comment reports.