One of those Republican legislators, state Rep. They aren't anti-death penalty Republicans - they're death penalty proponents who do not believe Jones should be executed. On Thursday, five Republican state legislators penned a statement urging Stitt to grant clemency to Jones. "And I think that's dangerous to just make assumptions along party lines and not really look at it as human beings and think, what is the moral thing to do? What is the right thing to do?" "If this appeared to be just simply a partisan issue or as some people have said, a liberal or Hollywood type of issue, if that's the way it was seen, then a lot of people wouldn't take the time to really dig into it and really learn the facts," she said. Masters said if Jones' execution was made to be a partisan issue, Stitt wouldn't have given it the time of day, which is why she began reaching out to her Republican contacts and asking them to take an objective look at the case. Masters, an attorney, is one of the leading advocates for Jones - she's fought to get advocates of all backgrounds on his side and testified at his clemency hearing.īut she realizes that for Stitt to consider anything, they needed to approach the situation differently. "The facts and the circumstances of the conviction are very troubling." "When people who typically are pro-death penalty and would not consider taking a look at the case, when they actually did take a look at the facts of the case and the circumstances of the conviction, it's very troubling, no matter what your beliefs are on the death penalty," said Kelli Masters, an advocate for Jones. In a poll released in June of this year, 77% of people who identify as Republican or lean to the right supported the death penalty, compared to only 46% of Democrats. Statistically, Republicans overwhelmingly support the death penalty, according to PEW Research Center. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections announced Tuesday that it is planning to move forward with Thursday’s execution of John Marion Grant, 60, who also is seeking to be reinstated to the federal lawsuit.Jones has always had the support of anti-death penalty advocates such as Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City, the NAACP and celebrities like Kim Kardashian West and Stephen Curry - all of whom are unlikely to have much sway on the first-term Republican governor.īut recently, Republicans - both local and national - have come to Jones' support. Stouffer is not part of the federal litigation, but has a motion pending to stay his execution before a federal judge that could be subject to appeal, Bates said. “Bud” Stouffer II, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the shooting death of woman in 1995, also was delayed, according to Pardon and Parole Board Director Tom Bates. Jones, 41, maintains he is innocent of the 1999 shooting death of Edmond businessman Paul Howell and that he was framed by the actual killer, a high school friend and former co-defendant who was a key witness against him.Īnother clemency hearing that was scheduled Wednesday for Bigler J. A federal district judge on Monday rejected the inmates’ request, and their attorneys immediately appealed to the U.S. Jones and five other death row inmates are seeking to be reinstated into a federal lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol. The five-member Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board is now set to hear Jones’ request for clemency next Tuesday while an appeal by death row inmates is pending in federal court. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A clemency hearing for Oklahoma death row inmate Julius Jones scheduled for Tuesday was delayed for a week while his legal challenge is pending in federal court.
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