Julius Jones was arrested and charged with murder in 1999 when Howell was shot in his 1997 GMC Suburban less than 20 miles away from Jones' home. Howell's sister described the shooter as "a black man wearing a stocking cap" with "half an inch of hair hanging out," his attorney Dale Baich told OU Daily in December 2019.
The 40-year-old prisoner, who was sentenced to death in 2002, had his death sentence commuted by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt on Thursday, November 18. Who is Julius Jones?
Julius Jones, whose death sentence was commuted on Thursday, and his attorney have maintained that Christopher Jordan is the man who committed the murder that sent him to Oklahoma's death row. At the 2002 trial, Jordan testified against Jones for a plea deal that gave him a lesser sentence. Above, Jones on February 5, 2018.
Attorney Kelli Masters is one of the last people who spoke with Julius Jones last night. Masters told KOCO 5 that Jones is preparing to die. As of 9 p.m. Wednesday night, Jones lost his phone privileges.
Julius Jones was a 19-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma when he was considered as the prime suspect in the killing of 45-year-old businessman Paul Howell.
Jones was arrested and charged with murder in 1999 when Howell was shot in his 1997 GMC Suburban less than 20 miles away from Jones' home.
Kim Kardashian has helped put the spotlight back on Jones' case years after it disappeared from the headlines.
Jones' case has attracted widespread attention in recent years, in part due to the ABC documentary series " The Last Defense ," which spotlighted his case in 2018. And more than 6 million people have signed an online Change.org Justice for Julius petition asking Stitt to intervene and prevent his execution.
Howell was killed in a carjacking the night of July 28, 1999. Around 9:30 p.m., Howell, his adult sister and his daughters pulled into his parents' driveway in his 1997 Suburban, according to court documents. Howell's sister told his daughters to gather their belongings and was exiting the vehicle when she heard a gunshot, court documents say.
The case has been marked by stark conflicts over the evidence against Jones, as well as questions about the reliability of the testimony of his co-defendant.