Parole board told death row inmate Julius Jones doing business deals

Death row inmate Julius Jones has been "leveraging his notoriety for financial gain," the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board was told Friday.

"In the past couple of years, Julius Jones has had so much money deposited to his inmate account that he has sent over $18,000 ... directly to his family and a few friends," a state investigator reported in an affidavit.

Jones, 41, faces execution Nov. 18 for a fatal shooting during a carjacking.

The parole board is scheduled to conduct a clemency hearing Tuesday morning for Jones, if he is not granted a stay of his execution beforehand.

Gov. Kevin Stitt will have the final say if clemency is recommended.

"If Julius is executed, the State of Oklahoma will be killing an innocent man," his attorneys told the parole board.

"Here, the record is replete with evidence jurors never heard demonstrating that Julius Jones did not kill Paul Howell, and that a multitude of now well-understood systemic failures led to Julius’s wrongful conviction for that crime."

Attorney General John O'Connor and Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater are opposing the clemency request.

"Jones and his defense team have told many half-truths, lies by omission, and outright falsehoods," O'Connor told the parole board.

"But the evidence tells an incontrovertible truth; a truth that has been reaffirmed these many years by every court which has considered the entirety of the evidence. Julius Jones is not entitled, by virtue of his lies and manipulations, to executive clemency."

The new claim about Jones' financial dealings came after a DA investigator listened to recordings of phone calls made from death row.

“We are prepared to address this unsupported innuendo at Tuesday's hearing," said Amanda C. Bass, an assistant federal public defender representing Jones.

The DA investigator reported Jones used another death row inmate's PIN to make approximately 600 calls while his phone privileges were suspended for a misconduct for two months this year.

"Although many of these calls were simply casual conversations, a large number of calls were used to discuss business ventures and to conduct financial transactions," the investigator, Darren Gordon, wrote in his affidavit. "The topics of discussions included marketing ideas for a new line of t-shirts and shoes branded by Julius Jones, financial strategies to maximize his earnings and investments through a multi-level marketing business ... and liquidating some of his investments."

Among those called were "people in the sports and entertainment industries" and podcast hosts, the investigator reported.

Also, Jones has had money sent to other inmates through a family member or friend more than 30 times since January 2019, according to the affidavit. 

Jones insists that he is innocent, that the real killer framed him and that his trial was unfair. His family backs him, insisting he was at home at the time of the murder.

He received support from across the country after ABC aired the documentary series, "The Last Defense," in 2018 about his innocence claim. Millions have signed an online petition, and hundreds have marched and held vigils in his support.

Celebrity Kim Kardashian visited him last year at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. In September, she asked other supporters to donate to the Justice for Julius campaign.

"We need to raise $100,000 to sustain and scale our campaign before his execution date," she tweeted.

Jones was sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of Howell, an Edmond insurance executive.

The victim was gunned down in his parents' driveway in Edmond after a back-to-school shopping trip with his daughters. His 1997 Suburban was stolen.

Jones is asking an Oklahoma City federal judge for a temporary stay of his execution.

Also asking are inmates John Marion Grant, Donald A. Grant, Gilbert Ray Postelle and, through a sister, Wade Greely Lay.

The execution for John Grant, 60, is set to begin at 4 p.m. Thursday at the penitentiary in McAlester.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot will consider the emergency request at a hearing Monday morning. The inmates are expected to go to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver if Friot denies the request.

The attorney general is opposing any stays. "The families of the victims of Movants’ horrific crimes have waited many, many years for justice. Further delay is not warranted," O'Connor's assistants told the judge in a legal filing.

Also Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court could rule on the latest request to bar two parole board members from participating in Jones' clemency hearing.

The attorney general last week accused board chairman Adam Luck and board member Kelly Doyle of bias. He asked the Supreme Court to order the two to disqualify themselves from Jones' clemency hearing and one Wednesday for death row inmate Bigler Jobe Stouffer.

Justices already have rejected a request from the district attorney to ban Luck and Doyle from participating in Jones' case. Both deny bias.

In related developments, Jones' lead attorney at trial has been lashing out at his current attorneys.

In a podcast this month, David McKenzie complained they "make a lot of false claims."

He specifically criticized the attorneys for pushing the claim that Jones has an alibi.

The attorneys have told the parole board the jury never heard from his mother, father, older brother and sister who were adamant that he was at home at the time of the murder. 

McKenzie said that the jury didn't hear that testimony because Jones said his family was wrong, that he had been "on the southside" that night.

"And he said it many times. And in fact told his girlfriend that as well," McKenzie said in the podcast.

About ABC's "The Last Defense," he said, "It's disingenuous. It's misleading. ... It leaves out facts. It sometimes contains out-and-out lies. ... If it were a book, it would be in the fiction section."

Jones' supporters, meanwhile, have begun gathering signatures on a petition to impanel a grand jury in Oklahoma County to investigate the district attorney.

They complain Prater has acted improperly toward Jones for racial reasons and should be removed from office. A judge quashed the original petition but on Friday allowed them to circulate it after it was amended. 

Jones' supporters are no longer seeking a grand jury indictment against Prater

"I will never cease advocating for justice in every case that I am responsible for." Prater said earlier this month. "I am proud to advocate for the Paul Howell family and all innocent victims and families who have been targeted by brutal killers like Julius Jones."