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.
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
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