Jones himself.īass also addressed the DNA sample taken from a red bandana found in Jones’s home. Jones’s attorneys did not call a single witness in the original trial, including Mr. It was the first capital case for either, according to Bass. The public defenders in that case have both signed affidavits saying that they were terrified of the case. The defenseĪmanda Bass, one of Jones’s attorneys, addressed the Board in the next segment of the meeting.īass said that the prosecution didn’t talk about Jones’s case as much as they talked about his “thuggishness” at the hearing on Monday.īass deftly made arguments about poor or incompetent representation in the original trial of Jones. That robbery never happened, to be clear. She went on to animalize Jones, describing him as prowling through the night to commit crimes, citing an incident wherein she and police have made the assumption Jones was waiting to mug somebody at an ATM. She cited the felony records of those witnesses, and made the spurious claim that Jones supporters have incentivized the witnesses to make these claims.Įlliott made the claim that “racism” has been invoked and that it muddies the otherwise clear waters of the case. Those witnesses, Elliott claimed, aren’t credible. Several witnesses have come forward to testify that while in prison Jordan claimed responsibility for the murder. Jordan received a lighter sentence than Jones, and with time credited spent 15 years in prison for the theft of Mr. Much of the case against Jones was made on the strength of testimony from Jordan. According to Elliott, Jones told his then-girlfriend that he was not at home the night of the crime.Įlliott also shared many of the claims made by Jones’s alleged co-conspirator, Christopher Jordan. His alibi was never brought up by the Public Defenders at Jones’s trial.Įlliott claims that it was not brought up because it was not a credible alibi. The Jones family has maintained that Julius was at home having dinner and playing games on the night of the murder. DA’s argumentĮlliott asked the Board to not punish the Howell family for her actions, implying that commutation would somehow “punish” the victim’s family.Įlliott then proceeded to go over the various reasons Jones’s defenders have listed as reasons to commute the sentence. At Monday’s meeting, Williams chose to recuse “out of an abundance of caution” to avoid the appearance of misdeeds. Another motion was filed to force Scott Williams to recuse. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against Prater last week. Previously, Oklahoma County DA David Prater has tried to have Board members Adam Luck and Kelley Doyle prevented from hearing the case, even going as far as to write a guest editorial against the two for The Oklahoman, a legacy newspaper based in Oklahoma City. She is still with the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s office, and represented the office at Monday’s hearing. Sandy Elliot was the prosecutor in the Jones trial 20 years ago. Toby said she is afraid of what Jones will do to her if he is allowed out of prison.Įach of Howell’s family members who spoke stated that they were certain that the right man had been sentenced to death for the murder of their loved one. She also said that other supporters of Jones have contacted her to pressure her to change her testimony. Toby claims that she has received letters from Jones asking her to change her testimony. According to Jones’s attorneys, pictures of Jones from shortly before the crime, and a picture of him at booking show him with very closely cropped hair. In her description to police, she said that the shooter had a stocking cap on and that his hair stuck out a couple of inches below the cap. Her description of the shooter has been called into question various times. Toby, was the only credible eye witness to the shooting of Mr. Howell’s sister, two brothers, and one of his daughters each spoke in turn, while other family members and friends sat behind them. Members of the Howell family addressed the Board first.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |