'Free Julius Jones' Demonstrators Gather in Oklahoma City

Protesters rallied outside the Oklahoma State Capitol and the governor’s mansion on the night of Wednesday, November 17, calling on Gov Kevin Stitt to grant clemency for Julius Jones, who was due to be executed on Thursday.

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

Footage taken by Twitter user @xethalon shows demonstrators chanting in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. As a line of officers approaches protesters kneeling in the road, the larger group is heard chanting, “Put down your guns.”

The Oklahoman reported that security was boosted at the capitol and the governor’s mansion. Credit: @xethalon via Storyful