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
No comments:
Post a Comment