Demonstrators Cheer in Oklahoma Capitol Building as Julius Jones's Execution Commuted

Oklahoma Gov Kevin Stitt commuted the sentence of Julius Jones, who was due to be executed, on Thursday, November 18

Video shared by Twitter user @haaleoh shows demonstrators inside the state capitol celebrating upon learning the news on Thursday afternoon.

Protesters had gathered at the state capitol building and the governor’s mansion overnight demanding that Gov Stitt commute Jones’s sentence.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, citing doubts about Jones’s guilt, had voted 3-1 to ask Stitt to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. Jones had been placed on death row after he was convicted for the murder of businessman Paul Howell in 1999.

Jones’s sentence is now life without the possibility of parole, Stitt said in a tweet. Credit: @haaleoh via Storyful