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Entries tagged with “Julius Jones”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Race

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Clemency

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Jun 19, 2020

As Support for Julius Jones Clemency Grows, Oklahoma Parole Board Turns to State Prosecutors on Scope of Commutation Power

As high-pro­file sup­port mounts in the cam­paign for clemen­cy for death-row pris­on­er Julius Jones (pic­tured), the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has turned to the pros­e­cu­tors who are seek­ing his exe­cu­tion — the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office — for advice on whether it can con­sid­er his peti­tion at all. The ques­tion fac­ing the board is whether Oklahoma law per­mits it to con­duct clemen­cy pro­ceed­ings for a death-row pris­on­er who does not face an active death…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Innocence

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Race

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Aug 29, 2018

Congressional Black Caucus Asks Oklahoma Governor to Review Case of Julius Jones

The Congressional Black Caucus has urged Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to review the case of death-row pris­on­er Julius Jones (pic­tured) and to use her author­i­ty to cor­rect what it char­ac­ter­ized as his ​“wrong­ful con­vic­tion.” In an August 21, 2018 let­ter to the Governor, the Black Caucus — an orga­ni­za­tion of African-American mem­bers of the U.S. House of Representatives — expressed its ​“deep con­cerns” about racial bias in the appli­ca­tion of the…

Policy Issues

Race

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United States Supreme Court

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Feb 11, 2019

Death-Row Prisoners Ask Supreme Court to Review Georgia, Oklahoma Verdicts Involving Racist Jurors

Georgia death-row pris­on­er Keith Tharpe (pic­tured, left) and Oklahoma death-row pris­on­er Julius Jones (pic­tured, right) are ask­ing the U.S. Supreme Court to grant them new tri­als after evi­dence showed that white jurors who described the defen­dants with racist slurs par­tic­i­pat­ed in decid­ing their cas­es. The involve­ment of the racist jurors, the pris­on­ers say, vio­lat­ed their Sixth Amendment rights to impar­tial juries. A juror…

Executions

Upcoming Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Oct 18, 2021

Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Oklahoma Death-Row Prisoners to Lawsuit in Decision That May Require State to Vacate Execution Dates

In a deci­sion with poten­tial to vacate a num­ber of Oklahoma exe­cu­tion dates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has held that a low­er fed­er­al court abused its dis­cre­tion in dis­miss­ing six death-row pris­on­ers from a law­suit chal­leng­ing the state’s execution…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Race

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Clemency

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Oct 18, 2019

Julius Jones Clemency Petition Garners Support from Civil Rights and Faith Leaders, Criminal Justice Experts

Lawyers for Oklahoma death-row pris­on­er Julius Jones (pic­tured) have peti­tioned the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for clemen­cy, argu­ing that Jones was wrong­ly con­vict­ed and that his tri­al was taint­ed by racial bias. The peti­tion, filed on October 15, 2019, has drawn sup­port from a diverse range of civic, civ­il rights, and faith lead­ers and crim­i­nal justice…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Race

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Representation

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Clemency

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Feb 25, 2022

New DPIC Podcast: Julius Jones’ Long Road On and Off Oklahoma’s Death Row, and What Comes Next in His Case

In the February 2022 episode of Discussions with DPIC, fed­er­al pub­lic defend­er, Amanda Bass (pic­tured, right), and Justice for Julius advo­cate Cece Jones-Davis (pic­tured, left) speak with Death Penalty Information Center Managing Director Anne Holsinger about the ques­tion­able con­vic­tion and near exe­cu­tion of for­mer Oklahoma death-row pris­on­er, Julius Jones. They dis­cuss how incom­pe­tent rep­re­sen­ta­tion and…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Mar 09, 2021

NEWS BRIEF — Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Advances Julius Jones’ Commutation Application

Julius Jones (pic­tured) will receive a ​“stage two” com­mu­ta­tion hear­ing after the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board vot­ed 3 – 1 to advance his com­mu­ta­tion appli­ca­tion past the ini­tial sum­ma­ry review stage. Jones main­tains his inno­cence in the 1999 mur­der of Paul Howell, for which he was sen­tenced to death in 2002. The board’s March 8 vote means that Jones will receive a more in-depth review of his case for clemen­cy and affords him the oppor­tu­ni­ty to present wit­ness­es and speak to the board…

Facts & Research

Public Opinion

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Jul 07, 2021

NEWS BRIEF — Poll Finds 60% of Oklahoma Voters Who Know of Julius Jones Case Support Commuting His Death Sentence

A sur­vey of 500 reg­is­tered vot­ers in Oklahoma, con­duct­ed June 24 – 28, 2021 by the Oklahoma polling firm Amber Integrated, has found that 60% of those who said they knew any­thing about the case of death-row pris­on­er Julius Jones believe Oklahoma author­i­ties should com­mute his death sen­tence. The poll results are vir­tu­al­ly iden­ti­cal to those in an Amber Integrated pub­lic affairs sur­vey con­duct­ed from December 14 – 17, 2020, except that a…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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New Voices

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Sep 16, 2020

NFL Season Begins with Players Outspoken about Death Penalty, Racial Justice

As the 2020 National Football League (NFL) season’s open­ing week­end began on Sunday, September 13, end zones were paint­ed with the words ​“End Racism” and ​“It Takes All of Us.” Six NFL teams remained in lock­er rooms for the National Anthem, and play­ers and one coach kneeled. After hav­ing been accused of black­balling play­ers who peace­ful­ly demon­strat­ed dur­ing the nation­al anthem, the NFL stat­ed in ear­ly September that “[t]he league is com­mit­ted to inte­grat­ing impor­tant causes…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Mental Illness

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Race

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Clemency

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Lethal Injection

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Sep 02, 2021

Oklahoma Attorney General Requests Seven Execution Dates Despite Pending Trial on Constitutionality of Lethal-Injection Protocol

Despite the pen­den­cy of a tri­al on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the state’s lethal-injec­tion pro­to­col, new­ly appoint­ed Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set exe­cu­tion dates for sev­en pris­on­ers on the state’s death row. If the court approves the exe­cu­tion dates, they would be Oklahoma’s first attempt to car­ry out exe­cu­tions in more than six years, end­ing a hia­tus brought on by a series of botched…

Executions

Executions Overview

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Feb 18, 2022

Oklahoma County Becomes Nation’s Third Most Prolific County Executioner as State Puts Intellectually Impaired Teen Offender to Death

When Oklahoma exe­cut­ed Gilbert Postelle on February 17, 2022, it came with a dubi­ous dis­tinc­tion. The intel­lec­tu­al­ly impaired man who was 18 years old at the time of his offense became the 44th per­son pros­e­cut­ed in Oklahoma County to be put to death since exe­cu­tions resumed in the U.S. in 1977. His death made the coun­ty the nation’s third-most pro­lif­ic coun­ty exe­cu­tion­er over the past half-cen­tu­ry, tied with Tarrant and Bexar coun­ties in…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Mental Illness

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Representation

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Clemency

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Upcoming Executions

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Sep 21, 2021

Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Sets Seven Execution Dates

After more than six years with no exe­cu­tions and with a tri­al pend­ing on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the state’s lethal injec­tion process, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has issued death war­rants set­ting sev­en exe­cu­tion dates in a less than five-month peri­od between late October 2021 and mid-March…

Facts & Research

Clemency

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Upcoming Executions

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Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Dec 07, 2021

Oklahoma Executes Bigler Stouffer After Governor Rejects Board Recommendation for Clemency, Federal Courts Deny Stay

Oklahoma exe­cut­ed Bigler Jobe Stouffer II (pic­tured, at his clemen­cy hear­ing) on December 9, 2021, after Governor Kevin Stitt reject­ing a par­dons board rec­om­men­da­tion to com­mute his sen­tence to life with­out parole and the fed­er­al courts denied his appli­ca­tions to stay his exe­cu­tion. Stouffer, 79, was the old­est pris­on­er put to death in Oklahoma. It was the eleventh and final exe­cu­tion of…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Mental Illness

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Lethal Injection

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Jan 27, 2022

Oklahoma Executes Donald Grant: First U.S. Execution of 2022 is 43rd from County with Most Executions Outside Texas

Oklahoma car­ried out the first exe­cu­tion of 2022 in the U.S. on January 27, inject­ing Donald Grant (pic­tured, at his clemen­cy hear­ing) with a three-drug chem­i­cal cock­tail whose con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty is the sub­ject of a pend­ing fed­er­al tri­al. Grant, whose exe­cu­tion drew inter­na­tion­al atten­tion because of his seri­ous men­tal ill­ness, was pro­nounced dead at 10:16 a.m. local…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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Executions Overview

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Botched Executions

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Lethal Injection

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Oct 28, 2021

Oklahoma Executes John Grant After Supreme Court Vacates Stay; Execution Proceeds Despite Pending Trial on Constitutionality of State’s Lethal-Injection Process

Within hours of a par­ti­san vote in the United States Supreme Court lift­ing an appeals court stay, Oklahoma exe­cut­ed John Grant on October 28, 2021, end­ing a six-year hia­tus brought on by a series of exe­cu­tion mishaps in 2014 and 2015. Eyewitnesses report­ed that Grant con­vulsed more than two dozen times and vom­it­ed as Oklahoma put him to death with a con­tro­ver­sial three-drug exe­cu­tion cock­tail whose con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty is the sub­ject of a…

Executions

Lethal Injection

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Feb 10, 2022

Oklahoma is Paying Execution Doctor $15,000 Plus Training Fees for Each Execution

Oklahoma is pay­ing $15,000 per exe­cu­tion, plus $1,000 for each day of train­ing, to an unnamed doc­tor to par­tic­i­pate in the process of putting state pris­on­ers to death. Under the agree­ment, the doc­tor stood to receive an esti­mat­ed $130,000 over the course of the 19-week-peri­od between October 28, 2021 and March 10, 2022 in which the state had sched­uled the exe­cu­tions of seven…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Sep 14, 2021

Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Julius Jones

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has vot­ed to rec­om­mend that Governor Kevin Stitt com­mute the death sen­tence imposed on Julius Jones (pic­tured) by an Oklahoma County jury in 1999 to a sen­tence of life in prison with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of…

Policy Issues

Race

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Sentencing Data

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Jul 27, 2017

Oklahoma Prisoners Argue State’s Application of the Death Penalty Is Racially Biased, Unconstitutional

Newly avail­able evi­dence shows that Oklahoma​’s death penal­ty uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly dis­crim­i­nates on the basis of race, accord­ing to peti­tions filed by lawyers seek­ing to over­turn the death sen­tences imposed on two African-American defen­dants, Julius Darius Jones (pic­tured) and Tremane Wood. Jones — a high school ath­lete and hon­or stu­dent who did not fit the descrip­tion of the shoot­er and who has con­tin­u­ous­ly main­tained his inno­cence — and Wood were…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Race

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United States Supreme Court

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Jan 24, 2019

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review Cases Alleging Racial Bias in Oklahoma Death Penalty

The United States Supreme Court has declined to review chal­lenges brought by two Oklahoma death-row pris­on­ers who alleged that their death sen­tences were the uncon­sti­tu­tion­al prod­uct of racial bias. Julius Jones and Tremane Wood had sought to over­turn their death sen­tences based on the find­ings of a 2017 study that showed sig­nif­i­cant racial dis­par­i­ties in Oklahoma’s death sen­tenc­ing prac­tices. On January 22, 2019, the Court denied the…

Policy Issues

Mental Illness

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Clemency

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Upcoming Executions

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Dec 03, 2021

Wade Lay Execution to be Stayed, as Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Denies Clemency to Two Other Death-Row Prisoners

The Oklahoma Attorney General​’s office has agreed to a stay of exe­cu­tion for a severe­ly men­tal­ly ill death-row pris­on­er who may be incom­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed, while the state’s Pardon and Parole Board denied clemen­cy to two oth­er pris­on­ers set to be put to death in Oklahoma​’s five-month sched­uled execution…