On Monday, less than two weeks after executing its fourth inmate in less than four months, Oklahoma will begin defending the constitutionality of its lethal injection protocol in federal court.
Hamilton: State attempting to restart highly flawed execution process journalrecord.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journalrecord.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Credit Justice for Julius
Death-row inmate Julius Jones’ stage two commutation hearing will take place under new rules to give the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board additional time to consider his case.
The board voted Monday to make Jones’ stage-two hearing an enhanced review. Jones’ delegates, the district attorney’s office and victims’ representatives will get 30 minutes each. When they voted in March to advance Jones’ application, enhanced review didn’t exist. In the future, at stage one, we would have a vote as to whether or not an individual would move into an enhanced stage two hearing. This administrative rule was not in place when we voted for advancing this case to stage two, Pardon and Parole Board Chair Adam Luck said.
An audio version of this story
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 3–1 on Monday to hold a second, in-depth hearing on Julius Jones’ commutation application.
Commutation is a two-stage process in Oklahoma. Jones application, the first in the state being considered from an inmate on death row, was on Monday s docket for its stage one hearing. Board members Kelly Doyle, Adam Luck and Larry Morris voted for it. Board member Allen McCall voted against it.
Jones was convicted of the murder of Edmond businessman Paul Howell in 2002 but has maintained his innocence. Jones legal team has argued his defense was poor and the trial was tainted by racism, and celebrities have taken notice of his case because of a 2018 documentary about him.