![]() ![]() Jones’ attorneys and supporters say that his case is an example of prosecutorial misconduct in the office of the Oklahoma County district attorney at the time, Bob Macy Macy died in 2011 and the district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. Jones’ attorneys have noted that 11 of the 12 jurors in his trial were white, and the attorneys argue that one of those jurors should have been removed after another juror reported to the court that he said “they should put him in a box and put him in the ground after this is all over for what he’s done.” In 2018, the juror who reported the incident also told Jones’ public defenders that the other juror used a racial slur when referring to Jones during the trial, court documents show. But over the last few years, it seems like this has just all blown up.” “The overwhelming amount of evidence is there, and the courts made their decisions. It’s another thing when you grow up and try to move on and this all comes running back in what feels like it’s punching you in the gut,” Rachel Howell, Paul Howell’s daughter and a witness to his murder, told the Pardon and Parole Board Monday. “It’s one thing to go through something like this, especially as a child. For them, the renewed attention on Jones’ conviction is unwarranted and traumatic, they said. ![]() The Howell family disagrees, pointing to the multiple times the conviction has been upheld on appeal. Last week, CBS' “The Late Late Show” host James Corden released a video detailing what he described as Jones’ “unjust trial” and the “overwhelming evidence of his innocence.” In recent years, Jones’ case has galvanized widespread public support, both locally and from celebrities like reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who visited Jones on Oklahoma’s death row in 2020 after learning about his case from an ABC documentary. But at his 2000 trial, his attorneys did not call any witnesses on his behalf, and he claims that despite his willingness to take the stand, his attorneys discouraged him from doing so. In his request for a commutation hearing, Jones said that he was at home having dinner with his parents the night Howell was killed. ![]() He could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. Jordan received a life sentence on a murder charge after admitting to his role in the killing but was released after 15 years. Jordan has denied this, saying in court that he drove the car with Jones the night of the murder but didn’t shoot Howell. They say the following evening, when Jordan stayed the night at Jones’ house, he planted the gun in Jones’ bedroom crawl space, along with the red bandana witnesses said the murderer was wearing. He and his legal team have said in legal filings that Jones’ high school acquaintance, Christopher Jordan, was responsible for the crime. Jones, who was a freshman at the University of Oklahoma at the time of the killing, has maintained his innocence. Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP file “I know beyond a doubt that Julius Jones murdered my brother.” Julius Jones was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1999 shooting death of businessman Paul Howell. “I was there when my brother was murdered,” his sister Megan Howell Tobey told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board during Monday’s commutation hearing. ![]()
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