Sister, friend of Julius Jones say they will work for his freedom after clemency spares his life
Hours after Governor Kevin Stitt commuted Julius Jones's death sentence to life without parole, his sister Antoinette Jones told CNN the fight for his full freedom was not over.
The sister and best friend of Julius Jones said they will now work to secure his full freedom, a day after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt granted him partial clemency, sparing him from execution just hours before it was scheduled, according to CNN. Jones was convicted in the 1999 carjacking murder of Edmond, Oklahoma businessman Paul Howell; his family has long maintained he was home with his sister and parents the night of the killing.
Antoinette Jones, his sister, told CNN's "New Day": "We still have to get his freedom." Jimmy Lawson, described as Julius Jones's lifelong best friend, said of the clemency decision, "Yesterday was an amazing feeling," and spoke about how close the family had come to losing him.
Stitt's clemency order commuted Jones's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole — it did not overturn the conviction or create a path to release. The order additionally specified, per later reporting on the case, that Jones would not be eligible to apply for or be considered for further commutation, pardon, or parole for the remainder of his life, a term Antoinette Jones said she had never heard attached to a stay of execution before.
The framing: relief paired with an unresolved fight
Antoinette Jones was explicit that the family did not view Stitt's action as an end point. "We gotta keep pressing forward to correct the different ways that have hindered Julius from true justice," she said, per CNN, while acknowledging she was uncertain what legal paths remained and would rely on the advice of attorneys.
We still have to get his freedom.
What it signals
The clemency decision closed off the immediate threat to Jones's life without closing the case in the eyes of his family or supporters. That the governor's own order foreclosed further commutation, pardon or parole applications meant the family's stated next step — working for his freedom — would have to run through channels other than the clemency process that had just spared him, a distinction Antoinette Jones's comments show the family understood clearly even in the hours after the decision.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by CNN. It restores a story originally published on this site in November 2021; figures are as reported at the time.