Death penalty in Oklahoma
Last minute pardon: Julius Jones doesn’t have to die
Julius Jones in a February 2018 photo taken by the Oklahoma Law Department
© Oklahoma Department of Corrections / AFP
The pardon came literally at the last minute: inmate Julius Jones escaped the execution chamber in Oklahoma. The accused and his sometimes prominent supporters had always protested their innocence.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has converted inmate Julius Jones’ death sentence into life imprisonment at the last minute.
Stitt’s order said that it would mean that Jones would not be allowed to request any commutation of his sentence, parole or pardon for the rest of his life. Jones’ execution was scheduled for Thursday. The 41-year-old was sentenced to death for allegedly shooting a businessman in 1999.
Support from Kim Kardashian
The accused and his numerous supporters have always protested their innocence. TV star Kim Kardashian had visited Jones about a year ago and campaigned for the death row inmate. Previously, a documentary had already drawn public attention to Jones’ case. Public pressure grew on the governor to prevent Jones from being executed.
At the end of October, Oklahoma authorities executed a death row inmate for the first time in more than six years. The 60-year-old was injected with a deadly poison. Jones’ execution would have been the second after the break. In Oklahoma, executions with lethal injection were suspended in 2015.
At the beginning of last year, the responsible authorities in the state then announced that they wanted to carry out executions with lethal injection again because a “reliable supply” of medication was guaranteed. In the last execution in Oklahoma before the suspension in January 2015, an agent was used that was not intended for an execution.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the next execution is due in Oklahoma on December 9th. In 27 of 50 US states, the death penalty has not been abolished or suspended by a moratorium.