Julius Jones Part II

Part 2

During the last post, which can be viewed here: https://thejusticeaddict.blogspot.com/2019/07/i-feel-there-is-so-much-involved-in.html, I told you that Paul Howell was carjacked and murdered in his driveway, and that Julius Jones was arrested for the crime. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death; however, there are so many issues with this case:

Issues with this case

The defense:

Julius Jones’ defense attorneys were inexperienced and no match for the prosecution. They were unprepared with no death penalty case experience. At trial, the defense rested without calling a single witness, including Julius who wanted to tell his side. Further, Julius had very short hair and had a booking photo from a very recent arrest to prove it. His defense never showed the jury this photo so they could see Julius’ hair wasn’t long enough to stick out of a skull cap. Remember that his co-defendant, however, matched the description that the eyewitness gave. Additionally, Day Day King also wore braids but I can’t say for sure how long they were. Either way, the attorney should have presented these photos to the jury to allow for reasonable doubt.

No alibi witnesses were called to testify since the lead defense attorney didn’t believe they were reliable. The police informants and Christopher Jordan testified though, and together with the murder weapon, bandana, video, and co-defendant testimony, the jury found Julius guilty and sentenced him to death.

About the jury:

The jury that convicted Julius was made up of 11 white jurors and one black juror. Other black potential jurors were struck from serving for reasons that white potentials were not. You may remember from previous posts that this is a Batson violation; however, the appeals court dismissed the claim.

Another claim brought forth was that this jury was racially biased, and that declaration was brought to the presiding judge during trial. Before deliberations even began, a juror was heard by another saying, “They should just take that n***** out and shoot him behind the jail.” The motion to dismiss this juror during the trial phase was denied even though it was clear that racial prejudice played a role in at least one juror’s decision making. (Just imagine having your fate placed in this person's hands.)

Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court denied Julius’ petition for judicial review regarding the racial bias claim. Julius’ constitutional rights were violated and he should, at the minimum, get a new and fair trial.

Incentivized witnesses:

An incentivized witness is someone who testifies on behalf of the prosecution against the defendant in exchange for a benefit of some type. This benefit may include favorable treatment in the person’s own criminal case. Chris Jordan was an admitted co-conspirator. He told police that he played a part in this crime. The jury was told that Chris would be serving a 30-year minimum sentence, rather than a death sentence, for his cooperation. Instead, he was released after just 15-years. He was released - not paroled – for a first-degree murder charge that he admitted to taking part in. Chris was an incentivized witness.

Additionally, two inmates housed with Chris Jordan came forward stating that he bragged that he did the shooting, and managed to pin it on Julius. Neither of those inmates were offered anything for this information, but yet they were dismissed as irrelevant and unreliable.

Ladell “Day Day” King was facing a 20-year sentence for check fraud that was dismissed after he testified against Julius. Incentivized.

Kermit Lottie was facing a lengthy prison sentence for drug charges. A detective in Julius’ case wrote a letter to the DA’s office recommending a lenient sentence, which he received, if he testified against Julius. Lottie was also an informant for another wrongful conviction case in Oklahoma. Incentivized.

Physical Evidence:

The red bandana was never tested for DNA until just recently. Once it was tested, the results came back as having a mixture of three or more individuals, all partial matches. One of the partials matched Julius – but none of the DNA was from saliva. The prosecution interprets the DNA results as conclusive evidence that they have the right person in custody; however, there was no saliva on the bandana! That’s not possible if it was worn by the shooter. Furthermore, you can imagine that it’s quite easy to transfer any sort of touch DNA evidence from someone’s bedroom onto a piece of cloth.

Julius’ fingerprints and DNA were not found in the stolen Suburban. Further, his hair didn’t match the description that the eyewitness gave.

The prosecutor:

“Cowboy” Bob Macy was considered one of the top five deadliest prosecutors in the nation. He sent 54 people to death row during his 21-year tenure. Half of those convictions have since been reversed. In addition to prosecutorial misconduct, other reasons cited were false informant testimony and forensic scientists lying about evidence. Bob Macy cheated to win his cases. This alone should be reason enough to allow a new trial! If they’re so confident that Julius did the crime, let them prove it in accordance to the constitution and moral code of ethics!

Death is final:

There is entirely too much reasonable doubt in this case to allow Julius to be put to death. This man deserves a fair trial. Paul Howell and his family deserve justice for his murder. It is so easy to put the wrong man behind bars. Misconduct, corruption, false or mistaken testimony, even human error - but it is so difficult to right that wrong. We cannot unexecute someone! The state of Oklahoma needs to revisit this case before it’s too late.

Please continue to educate yourselves about this case and spread the word:

There is a lot of information on Twitter – specifically here: https://twitter.com/hiphop_angel77 and here: https://twitter.com/justice4julius

And on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justice4juliusjones/

Watch The Last Defense: https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/the-last-defense/full-episodes/julius-jones-the-crime

Donate to Julius’ phone call and commissary account: https://www.gofundme.com/julius-jones

Julius Jones Part I

I feel there is so much involved in this case, and I’m afraid that I may not have given it the justice it deserves. I know I’ve left so many important details out. That’s why I ask that you please educate yourself further on this case as well as the others that I highlight. Meet Julius Jones. 

Everyone needs to know this statistic.
“For every nine people executed in the United States (since 1973), one person on death row has been exonerated” (deathpenaltyinfo.org). That means one out of every 10 people on death row is potentially innocent. As of April 1, 2019, there were 2,673 prisoners awaiting execution, totaling a possible 267 innocents on death row!

Today, I call your attention to Oklahoma – the home of 10 such exonerations from death row. Let that sink in. Ten. Since 1981. Seven of those involved official misconduct and six included perjury and/or false accusations. Only three of those were exonerated due to DNA evidence.

Currently there are 48 people incarcerated on death row in Oklahoma. Shall we do the math? Even if we give the state the benefit of the doubt, we’re still talking about four potentially innocent people waiting to die for crimes they didn’t commit. Julius Jones may very well be one of those four innocent prisoners. He was the subject of a recent documentary called, “The Last Defense,” and if you haven’t seen it, you should watch. (There is a link below, if you have access to the Discovery ID channel). Julius may be executed soon, but there is a very high probability that he didn’t commit this crime.

The timeline:
On Wednesday, July 28, 1999, Paul Howell, his two children, and his sister arrived at his parents’ home in Edmond, Oklahoma at approximately 9:30 p.m. They were immediately confronted in the driveway by a man who pointed a gun at Paul, demanding he get out of the vehicle – and then he shot him. That man then drove away in Howell’s Chevy Suburban. Thankfully, his children and sister ran to safety into the house, calling for police. Paul sister’s described the perpetrator as a black male, about 5’6”-5”8”, wearing blue jeans, white tee, skull cap, and a red bandana over his face. She distinctly remembered he had about an inch or 1-½ inches of hair sticking out of the back of the skullcap.

That same evening, Julius Jones, a college sophomore on summer break, was at his parents’ house, about a 20-minute drive away from the crime scene. He had dinner with his family, then played Monopoly with his siblings. His older brother left for work at 9:30 p.m. and knows that Julius was still there with his sister. He stayed at the house, waiting for his friend, Christopher Jordan, to give him a ride to his own apartment near campus. Chris didn’t show up until 11 or 11:30 p.m. When Julius asked what took him so long, he replied he had “gotten into it with someone.”

The next day, Thursday, Julius received a page from an acquaintance, Ladell “Day Day” King, first looking for Chris Jordan, then asking for a favor – to help him move a truck. Julius agreed. Even though he knew the vehicle was probably stolen, he wanted the cash that was being offered for his help. Julius drove King’s vehicle and did not get into the vehicle that King was driving, a Chevy Suburban. Neither his fingerprints nor DNA were never found in or on it. Further, he didn’t even get out of King’s vehicle while at the chop-shop that they drove to. The owner of that shop didn’t want the vehicle since he heard “there was a body associated with it” so they dropped the vehicle off at a local grocery.

That same night, Chris Jordan appeared at Julius’ parents’ house stating he was locked out of his grandmother’s and asked if he could spend the night. Julius said yes, and Chris slept upstairs while Julius slept on the couch.

Police located Howells’ Suburban at that grocery store two days after the crime occurred. They interviewed the owner of the nearby chop-shop, Kermit Lottie, a police informant, who pointed them in the direction of known car thief, “Day Day” King, also an informant. King told them that Christopher Jordan and Julius Jones approached him, and asked if he could be the middle-man to sell the Suburban. He added that Jones was wearing a red bandana and skull cap. Was it a coincidence that King had been with Julius the day before, or was this a purposeful setup? The grocery store’s surveillance camera showed Julius in the store where the vehicle was recovered the day after the crime.

Chris was picked up for questioning. They had evidence that Chris had been involved in a carjacking the previous week, and told him that if he cooperated (and implicated Julius Jones), they would be lenient on him. He complied and said he drove Jones to the scene of the crime with the intent to steal the car. However, his statements were all over the place – he said he never heard gunshots then said he did; he didn’t see anything but then saw the body fall; he never touched the gun but then he may have left a fingerprint or two. Chris’ attorney told the documentarians that he had to wait hours to speak to Chris. It’s probable that police were crafting the statements to match the story they wanted told.

Police drove to the Jones’ residence with Chris is in the backseat. Chris directed them to the murder weapon that was wrapped in a red bandana in a crawl space. Now might be a good time to tell you that Chris Jordan wore short braids that stuck out about an inch or two from the bottom of his hairline. Julius on the other hand, had short hair.

 

               

And do you remember that Chris slept at this house the night after the crime? Guess which room they found this evidence in? Hint – it was the one that Chris slept in!

Julius Jones and Christopher Jordan were both charged with first degree murder. The DA in this case, Bob Macy, conducted a press conference telling everyone he would seek the death penalty, thus tainting the jury pool. A prosecutor would never push for death if they didn’t know the person was guilty, right? *(Insert hard eye roll here!)

You may have already noticed, but there are some issues with this case. Please tune in to the next post to read about them.

Watch The Last Defense: https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/tv-shows/the-last-defense/full-episodes/julius-jones-the-crime

Donate to Julius’ phone call and commissary account: https://www.gofundme.com/julius-jones

Gregory Lott and his many dates with death

There are too many people on death row right now with questionable convictions. I personally think the death penalty should be abolished but until that happens, no one should ever be executed if there is even a slight chance they didn’t commit the crime for which they are accused. Kirk Bloodsworth, the first person to be exonerated from death row due to DNA evidence, once said, “We cannot un-execute someone.” Truer words have never been spoken. 

This crime is heinous and upsetting. In July 1986, someone broke into 82-year-old John McGrath’s East Cleveland residence. They beat him, tied him up, then set him on fire, and left him to die. Mr. McGrath clung to life for eight days and during that time, he described his attacker to police as a black male with a very light complexion. He said the suspect was about 6 feet tall, medium build, and had long, straight hair. He also stated he recognized the perpetrator since they went to the same barbershop.  

Right now, Gregory Lott is sitting on Ohio’s death row for this crime although he is claiming his innocence. Lott is approximately 5’10”, with a stocky build and has always had short hair. He has medium to dark brown skin; not at all light-skinned as described by McGrath. While cross-racial identification can be difficult, in this case, McGrath lived around African Americans for many years, and would presumably be able to determine the difference between light-skinned or dark, and long hair and short.  

When McGrath was shown a sketch of a Lott, he told police Lott was not the perpetrator of this crime. The district attorney’s office went so far as to suggest to McGrath that the suspect may have worn skin lightening make-up or bleaching cream, and that Lott could have been wearing a doo-rag, which he mistook for long hair. Did Gregory Lott kill John McGrath? I don’t know – but the victim didn’t think so. He definitely described someone else before he died.   

Lott was an admitted neighborhood burglar that had broken into McGrath’s house at least two other times, leaving his fingerprints everywhere. He broke into other houses in the neighborhood too – he was no saint, but was he a murderer? Not according to this victim. Truthfully, we may never know if he committed this crime but what if he didn’t? I would rest a bit easier each night knowing a person is in prison rather than a grave on the day his exoneration evidence is brought forth.  

Police didn’t consider Mr. McGrath to be a reliable witness, nor did they bother to visit the barbershop where he told them the suspect frequented. The description that the victim gave wasn’t turned over to the defense, and even when his lawyers did see those documents in 1991, they didn’t present that evidence to an appeals court. Lott had also allegedly confessed to police that he burglarized the McGrath home the day of the crime but no statement was signed; no Miranda warnings were given; and the only evidence of his confession was the word of the officer who heard it. 

The Prosecutor in this case had previously been reprimanded numerous times by the courts for improper behavior, and was even accused by a panel-judge in this case for “legal gymnastics.” He continually offered theories that couldn’t be proven but were damaging to Lott’s case. The three-judge panel ultimately found Lott guilty and sentenced him to death. 

Lott’s first execution date was set in 2002, but the courts wanted further testing to determine if he was intellectually disabled. Experts determined his IQ was a few points over the criteria so they signed a new death warrant for 2004. That date was stayed because of the victim’s testimony evidence being withheld, but another date was set for 2014. Because Ohio’s execution protocol has been called into question, Lott had two different postponements in 2014 with a new date set for this August 2019.  

However, in March of this year, Ohio Governor Michael DeWine once again rescheduled Lott’s execution - this time for March 12, 2020. This last postponement is because the state is searching for new methods of lethal injection. DeWine has imposed an unofficial moratorium on executions because of problems with their drugs and the potential they could cause cruel and unusual punishment. 

This scheduling and rescheduling of death-dates has got to be agonizing for the victim’s family, as well as supporters of Lott’s. A solution would be to commute his sentence to life. If his innocence can be proven after that, at least he’ll be alive to walk out the door. If he is guilty, then he will be spending his life incarcerated and punished. 

Why is this country so determined to kill our citizens as punishment? It’s not less expensive than life in prison. It’s inhumane treatment of our own people. And believe it or not, it can leave the victim’s family with less satisfaction since the perpetrator is not suffering in prison.  

As a wise man that spent time on death row once said, 

“You can’t un-execute someone.” 

Amnesty International Home. (2002, August 7). Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AMR511282002ENGLISH.pdf 

Execution of Ohio Inmate Gregory Lott Rescheduled. (2019, June 4). Retrieved from https://www.theforgivenessfoundation.org/index.php/40-news/general/2867-execution-of-ohio-inmate-gregory-lott-rescheduled-for-april-20-2016