Vigil for Julius Jones Held Outside Oklahoma State Penitentiary Ahead of Governor's Stay of Execution

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

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.

This footage taken by the Terence Crutcher Foundation, who said they filmed it outside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, shows protesters staging a vigil for Jones before Stitt’s announcement. Credit: Terence Crutcher Foundation via Storyful