Julius Jones – Miscarriage of Justice?

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Julius Jones - Miscarriage of Justice?

In July 1999, in a quiet suburb of Oklahoma City, a man would lose his life in the driveway of his parent’s home. He was murdered in front of his older sister and two young daughters.  The perpetrator was soon caught, but was the right man sentenced to death?  Listen to the story of Julius Jones and decide for yourself.  There are lots of questions surrounding this case. Did Julius Jones receive a fair trial or was he set up to take the fall for a murder he didn’t commit?

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Oklahoma City Josué Goge / CC BY 2.0

This was a case suggestion by Mandy from Oklahoma. It “inspires much discussion” where she works over whether or not the person prosecuted for the crime is actually guilty.

Location:

This case occurred in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Oklahoma City was founded on April 22, 1889, as a result of the Land Run. 400 acres of land was settled practically overnight by 5,000 residents. It is the capital of Oklahoma and the largest city within the state of Oklahoma. It also holds the title of having the largest livestock markets.

The April 19, 1995 attack on the Alfred B. Murrah Federal Building was the scene of the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in the US. 168 people died and 680 people were injured when Timothy McVeigh blew up a rental truck with a fertilizer bomb.

Also, Oklahoma ranks third in the country (behind Texas and Virginia) in the number of executions since 1976. Since 1981 there have been 10 death row inmates who have had their cases exonerated.

I added that last bit of trivia because of how it relates to this episode

Full disclosure:  in researching this case I read numerous newspaper articles and appeals from both state and federal levels.  After all that I watched the ABC Docuseries “The Last Defense” which highlighted this case in three-part episodes.  “The Last Defense was produced by Oscar winner, Viola Davis, and her husband. 

July 28, 1999

On July 28, 1999, Paul Howell (45), his older sister, Megan Tobey, and Paul’s two daughters (age 7 & 9) were returning to the residence of Paul and Megan’s parents at 727 East Drive in Edmond. Edmond is a part of the Oklahoma metropolitan area to the north of center city. Paul and his daughters had been living with his parents.

Paul was well known in the Edmond area – he was involved in community activities and was a deacon at his local church. He was also an insurance executive with Howell-Stone Insurance, which was a company that he helped found.

They had been out shopping for school supplies for the upcoming school year and had gotten ice cream at the drive-thru at Braum’s Ice Cream Shop. A couple who were sitting on the curb in front of Braums’  noticed two black males in their early twenties circling the parking lot in an Olds Cutlass. They would describe the driver’s hair as having cornrows and the other male was wearing a white t-shirt. The Cutlass backed into a parking space after circling the lot. It sat idling for a few minutes until it suddenly pulled out onto the street.

Paul Arrives Home

He pulled into the driveway in the quiet residential neighborhood around 9:30 pm. Paul parked his sandy-brown 1997 GMC Suburban in his parent’s driveway and turned off the engine. When he exited the vehicle he was confronted by an African-American male pointing a gun at him and demanding that he give him his keys.

Megan Tobey had been getting out of the Suburban at the same time as her brother. She was helping to get her nieces out of the car when she heard the demand for the keys followed by a gunshot. Megan noticed that the African-American male was wearing a white t-shirt, a black stocking cap, and had a red bandanna covering the lower half of his face. She also noticed and would later tell the police that she could see about having a ½ inch of hair sticking out from underneath the stocking cap.

Megan quickly ushered the girls towards the carport of her parent’s home. She banged on the glass patio doors yelling to be let in. As they were running towards the house a second shot rang out. William Dean Howell Sr. (Paul and Megan’s father) called 911 telling them his son had been shot and was lying in the driveway with no pulse.

Police and an ambulance arrived a short time later. They transported Paul to the local hospital where he would succumb to his injuries. He died four hours later from a gunshot wound to the head.

The Investigation

Dennis Dill, now a retired officer from the Edmond Police Department, arrived on the scene at 9:47 pm to begin the investigation. Two shell casings would be found in the driveway and placed into evidence He initially thought that the carjacking might be gang-related. The GMC Suburban was a highly sought-after vehicle that could easily be chopped up for parts. The value at the time of the shooting was $27,000. Police immediately put out an alert to be on the lookout (bolo) for the Suburban

This quickly became a high-profile case. An upper-middle-class white man was murdered in the driveway of a quiet residential neighborhood in a predominantly white area of Oklahoma City by an African American male. This put a lot of pressure on the Edmond Police Department to find the person or persons responsible for this crime.

Friday July 30, 1999

At 1:40 am the Police find the abandoned GMC Suburban parked in a grocery store parking lot on the southside of Oklahoma City. The Police begin to canvas the neighborhood in hopes of finding who drove the Suburban to the store.

Kermit Lottie, a police informant, owned an auto body/chop shop 4 blocks away from the grocery store. The police decided to pay Lottie a visit to see what he knew. Lottie told the police that the day following the murder (on Thursday) “Day-Day” otherwise known as Ladell King, had come by his shop with a guy who he didn’t know asking him if he was interested in buying the Suburban. Kermit informed King that the Suburban he was trying to offload was tied to a murder and he was definitely not interested.

At 2:32 pm the police pick up Ladell King. He was questioned by lead homicide detectives Theresa Pieffer and Tony Fike. King had a reputation for being involved in area car thefts.

Ladell King’s Story

He tells police that he’s just the middleman in regards to the stolen Suburban. He claims that on the night of the murder, Christopher “Westside” Jordan had come to his apartment around 10 pm. Jordan had driven up to his apartment blasting loud music driving his goldish brown 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass. A few minutes later Julius Jones had pulled in driving a sandy brown GMC Suburban.

They had come to see if King could help them sell the Suburban. King goes on to say that he went to Kermit’s auto body/chop shop the next day (Thursday) and found out that the Suburban was connected to a homicide. He claims he went home and turned on the news and heard the description of the shooter as having worn a red bandana over his face.

That’s when he remembered that when Julius Jones pulled up he had a red bandana around his neck, a black stocking cap on his head, jogging pants, and brown cotton gloves (on July 28, 1999, the temperature at 9:30 pm was 88 degrees). King tells police that both Julius Jones and Christopher Jordan returned to his place the next day. Julius admitted that when he “opened the door (to the Suburban) the gun had just gone off”.

King provided police with Julius’ home number and parent’s address. They lived at 12104 Greystone Terrace in Camelot Estates. The neighborhood was located in the Clegern area of Oklahoma City.

Julius Jones

Julius Jones was born on July 25, 1980, to Madeline and Anthony Jones and was the middle of three children. He had an older brother Antonio and younger sister, Antonette. His mother Madeline was a school teacher and his father Anthony was a cement finisher/construction worker. Both parents valued education and encouraged all their children to do well in school and work hard.

Julius excelled at both academics and sports, specifically in the sports of football and basketball. The teachers found him to be a focused, thoughtful and bright student. 

Julius graduated from John Marshall High School in the top 10% of his class (12 out of 143). He had a 3.8 GPA and earned the Presidential Leadership Academic Scholarship to attend the University of Oklahoma. He had just completed his freshman year as an engineering major and was looking to obtain another scholarship if he made the basketball team as a walk-on during his sophomore year.

During the spring/summer of 1999 people around Julius started to see some changes in him that were worrisome. He had begun to associate with some guys that didn’t appear to be good influences on him.

On May 26, 1999, Julius was charged and sentenced to one year of probation. He pleads guilty to concealing stolen property, unlawful use of a fictitious name, giving a false declaration to a pawnbroker, and larceny of merchandise. Julius had tried to pawn a stereo that he claimed he bought off the street from some guy. It turns out it was stolen from Walmart. He also had attempted to steal four pagers from a local Target store.

When Julius talks about this he claims that he got into shoplifting and stealing anything he could get his hands on so he could sell the items to get some money.

Christopher “Westside” Jones

Christopher “Westside” Jones was a high school classmate of Julius and they played on the same basketball state championship team. In high school, they really didn’t hang out with each other. They reconnected the spring/summer of 1999 at pick-up basketball games when Julius came home from college.

Jones appeared to have some gang affiliations but was not a member of a gang.

Friday July 30, 1999

At 3:55 pm Julius answers the phone at his house. The person on the other end identifies themselves as the police and asked to speak with Julius. He said he wasn’t there and hung up the phone. Then he left out of the back of the house. While walking down the street he runs into Christopher Jordan who takes him to his brothers, Demond Coleman (22), apartment. Julius spends the night there.

(In the docuseries) Antoinette answers the phone at their parent’s residence at some point and the caller on the other end identifies themselves as police and asks to speak to Julius Jones regarding a murder. Antoinette interrupts her parents, who are getting ready for a class reunion, to tell them that the police want to speak to Julius, but he’s not home.

When the Jones walk outside they are met with approximately 10 police officers surrounding their house with their guns drawn. They tell the officer that Julius is not home and they are welcomed to go into the house and take a look. The officers decline as they are waiting on a search warrant and a tactical team to clear the home before they enter.

6:30 pm

The police find Christopher Jordan not far from Ladell King’s apartment using a payphone. Jordan is loaded into a police car and taken to the Jones’ residence. He remains in the car speaking with the police. Jordan claimed that Julius was the shooter. Jordan remained in his car parked around the corner of the Howell residence and waited for Julius to carjack the Suburban.

9:30 pm

The warrant comes through. The tactical team enters the Jones’ residence and clears the residence within the next half hour.

10:00 pm

The police enter the home and continue to search. Meanwhile, the Jones family waits across the street in their neighbor’s driveway. Police find a semi-automatic, chrome-finished .25 caliber gun wrapped in a red bandana. It was located in the crawl space above Julius’s bedroom closet.

The police find a loaded gun magazine hidden behind the cover of a door chime. It appears to go with the .25 caliber gun. A box of .25 caliber bullets was later found in Julius’ car at a transmission shop. The bullets matched the bullets taken from the crime scene, Paul Howell’s head, and the dashboard of the GMC Suburban.

They would also find a white t-shirt and black stocking cap on Julius’ bedroom floor.

Saturday July 31, 1999

At 6:30 am Julius Jones is found at Christopher Jordan’s brother’s, Laymon Jordan (22) apartment. He is surrounded by cops who wake him up and place him in custody. They don’t allow him to put on shoes or a shirt prior to placing him in the back of a police car.

Julius would later claim that when he was transferred to an Edmond Police car one of the officers took off his handcuffs and told him to run. Julius didn’t; remembering what his father always told him. Never run from the police and give them a reason to shoot you.

Julius was taken to the Edmond Police Station and booked. He refused to make a statement.

Christopher Jordan is taken down to the Edmond Police Station also and questioned by two homicide detectives:

  • Detective Tony Fike
  • Detective Theresa Pieffer

They tape-recorded their interrogation and you can hear some of it on the docuseries. Their goal was to get Jordan to confirm Ladell King’s version of events, but there seemed to be a problem. Christopher Jordan gave a lot of inconsistent statements, such as:

  • I didn’t see a gun
  • Didn’t touch a gun
  • I might have touched the gun
  • I might have loaded the gun

He also would say “I” then quickly change it to “he” referring to Julius Jones. At one point, Detective Fike asks him if he “(Jordan) has it backwards” implying he was the shooter. Jordan stated that he wasn’t the shooter and that Julius Jones was. Julius Jones is charged with murder in the first degree, possession of a firearm after conviction of a felony, and conspiracy to commit a felony.

The Trial

Death Penalty

Bob Macy was the District Attorney for Oklahoma City from the 1980s until 2001. He was referred to as “Cowboy Bob” because he always wore a big cowboy hat. Macy was tough on crime and in fact, was noted as being one of the five deadliest prosecutors in the US. He won convictions where defendants were sentenced to death 54 times.

Julius’s case would be no different as Bob Macy was going for the death penalty. Macy felt that this murder was a senseless act for nothing more than to get money.

Bob Macy resigned from his office in 2001 amid a scandal in which a forensic scientist had faked evidence. In addition, prosecutorial misconduct was discovered in a third of Cowboy Bob’s 54 death penalty convictions.

February 14, 2002 (first day of trial)

Julius Jones has three attorneys assigned to him from the Public Defender’s Office. None of his attorney’s had experience trying a capital murder case.

  • David McKenzie
  • Robin “McPhil” Bruno -she was still in law school when Paul Howell was murdered
  • Malcolm Savage

Bob Macy and Sandra Elliott would represent the state of Oklahoma. The jury was composed of 11 Caucasians and 1 African American. During the process of picking the jury, potential African American jurors were “struck” by the prosecution more often than not.  Their reasons for doing so was because they didn’t want jurors who had been crime victims themselves or had criminal records.

This rule did not seem to apply to potential white jurors. This is grounds for one appeal as there was a white juror who had two felonies on his record.

Megan Tobey’s Testimony

The prosecution put Megan Tobey on the stand as the only eyewitness to her brother’s murder. She testified to the events of that evening. When the defense cross-examined her she admitted that the person she saw with the red bandanna over the lower half of their face had hair sticking out from below the stocking cap.

She was never shown the booking photo of Julius Jones taken on July 19, 1999 (9 days prior). He had a short-cropped haircut. The jury didn’t see the photo either. Why is this important?  Because Julius Jones did not fit the description of the shooter that the only eye witness had seen. However, Chris Jordan did fit that description.

Kermit Lottie Testimony

Kermit Lottie testified about his conversation with Ladell King. According to prosecutors, Lottie was not receiving anything from the prosecution for testifying.

Ladell King’s Testimony

The same goes for Ladell King not receiving any deals for his testimony. Ladell connected Christopher Jordan and Julius Jones to the carjacking and murder of Paul Howell. He claimed that Julius had confessed to him about shooting Paul Howell. King also testified that in the early morning hours the day after the shooting Julius called him and told him that there was a $22,000 reward for information on the shooter. Julius then confessed that he was the one responsible for shooting Paul Howell.

The defense did not ask any questions on cross-examination as to exactly how close King and Julius were. They left the presumption for the jury that they had a close relationship that might not have been true.

Prosecutors also showed a video from the Central Grocery store where the police found the stolen Suburban. Around 3:30 pm on the day after the shooting, both Ladell King and Julius Jones are seen walking inside the grocery store.

When it was the defense’s turn to cross-examine King they tried to show that the cigarettes found in the Suburban belonged to King. Unfortunately, the prosecution didn’t disclose to the defense that the cigarettes belonged to a family friend of the Howells’. This seemed to undermine the defense. In later appeals, the court would find this to be a non-issue as the prosecution had not used the cigarette evidence to link Julius to the crime. 

Christopher Jordan’s Story

Christopher Jordan testified to his version of events. Jordan plead guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years to life. At least this is what was told to the defense and jury. Jordan told the jury that he and Julius had been driving around in his Cutlass looking for cars to steal. They were hoping to sell them for cash.

They spotted the GMC Suburban in the drive-thru at Braum’s Ice Cream Shop. Jordan drove through the parking lot and backed into space. They waited for the GMC to pull out onto the road. While waiting, they noticed a couple who was eating ice cream while sitting outside on the curb watching them. This got Jordan and Julius a little spooked.

Jordan decided to pull out onto the main road and pull over to wait for the Suburban. Jordan followed the GMC back to Edmond. He claims that he parked around the corner from the Howell residence while Julius got out of the car and went to confront the driver. Jordan claimed that he heard a gunshot, but did not see the shot that killed Paul Howell.

Once he heard the shot he got out of the car and claims he saw Paul Howell fall to the ground and Julius patting down Paul Howell for his keys. Then Julius jumped into the Suburban and pulled out with Jordan following him.

On cross-examination, McKenzie asked basic questions that were answered simply by Christopher Jordan. He was not confronted with the inconsistent statements he made to police when he was first questioned.

The State Rests

The state rested. The defense now had the opportunity to put on their case for the jury and explain why Julius Jones was not guilty of the crimes he had been charged with.

However – that didn’t happen.

David McKenzie, the lead trial attorney, stood up and told the court the defense rests. He failed to put on any witnesses such as Julius’s family members. They were ready to testify that he was at home the night of the murder. He didn’t put anybody on the stand who could testify to Julius’s character.

Of all the people surprised none were more surprised than Julius Jones. He had expected to take the stand in his own defense.

David McKenzie would say afterward (in the docuseries) that he did a “horrible job” cross-examining Christopher Jones. His trial strategy was one of making points during his cross-examination of state witnesses.  He felt that they had done enough to give reasonable doubt.

McKenzie claimed that the reason he did not put Julius’s family on the stand was due to credibility issues. He claimed that there was a letter Julius had written his then-girlfriend while he was in jail where he admitted that he was not at his parent’s home around the time of the shooting. In a 2004 affidavit, Julius’s girlfriend claimed that she and Julius never discussed where he was nor had anyone from the public defender’s office ever spoken to her.

In the docuseries, David Mackenzie was questioned why he didn’t put Julius’s girlfriend on the stand. He never brought up the fact that Julius’ fingerprints were never found in the stolen Suburban.

Julius’ Version – Had He Testified

The jury never got to hear Julius’ version of events. If they had this is what Julius Jones would have testified to (per his clemency application). He claims that on the day of the murder, Christopher Jordan and Chris’s girlfriend came over to Julius’ parent’s house in Jordan’s girlfriend’s red Geo Prism. Julius was going to go with Jordan to a local AutoZone store to help him get his battery recharged since Jordan’s 1972 Cutlass had broken down.

Julius claims that around noon that day Jordan drove him to see his (Julius) girlfriend. She had been working at an accounting firm where he visited her for about 20 minutes. Then Jordan drove him to the garage to pick up Julius’ car, a black Buick, which had been in the shop to get the transmission repaired. The parts needed for the repair had to be ordered so Julius took his car back. Unfortunately, on the way back to his parent’s home the transmission started to leak fluid and began to smoke.

That’s when they ran into Ladell King that Julius had met a few weeks earlier through Jordan. King suggested that Julius’ park his car outside of his (King) apartment until Julius could figure out a way to get his car back to the shop.  Julius claims this all happened around 4 pm. Jordan dropped Julius back off at his parent’s house. They made plans for Jordan to return around 9:30 pm (according to the docuseries). He was to pick Julius up and take him to his off-campus apartment in Norman so Julius could get some clean clothes.

Norman is about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City and where The University of Oklahoma is located

The Night of the Murder

The night of the murder Julius claims that he was at his parent’s home playing monopoly with his siblings. They had Julius’ favorite meal, spaghetti, around 8 pm. Julius remembers the time because his brother and sister ate most of a birthday cookie behind his back, leaving him just a small piece.

Around 9:30 pm Julius’ mother left with his brother, Antonio to take him to work. When she returned around 10 pm. Julius was still there and that’s when he told her about the cookie incident. This was around the time of the murder. The Jones residence is approximately a 17 to 20-minute drive from the Howell residence.

Julius claims that Jordan showed up sometime between 11 and 11:30 pm and drove him to his apartment in Norman. He claims that Jordan seemed “off.” Then Jordan told Julius that he had “got into it with some guys and shot at them.” Julius claims he was shocked and did not ask any further questions feeling it’s best the less he knew.

After picking up some clean clothes, Jordan and Julius left his apartment around 2:00 am and headed back to Oklahoma City. They arrived at Jordan’s brother’s apartment between 2 and 3 am where they hung out, drank, and played dominos.  Julius fell asleep at some point. Early the next day Jordan drove Julius back to where he had left his car. Then Jordan followed Julius to Championship Auto where he dropped off his car for the transmission repair.

Jordan then drove Julius back to his parents’ house around 8:30 am on Friday morning and Julius went to sleep.

Ladell King

Julius claims that at some point that day Ladell King had started paging him looking for Christopher Jordan. He then asked for a favor from Julius where he could earn some money for moving a car. King picked Julius up around the corner from his parent’s house in a red Firebird and kept asking Julius if he knew where Jordan was.  

King took Julius back to his apartment and asked him to drive the GMC Suburban. Julius insisted that he drive King’s car because he had heard stories of King being connected to stolen vehicles and changing their serial numbers and felt that the Suburban might have been stolen.

Julius drove the red Firebird and King the Suburban. King parked the Suburban at the grocery store and went inside while Julius waited outside. After about a minute Julius decided to go into the store. Julius couldn’t remember if King bought anything or not. They then both left the store got into King’s Firebird and drove to a local auto body shop.

After Julius’ arrest, he found out that the auto body shop was a “chop shop” and belonged to Kermit Lottie. Julius waited in the car while King went into the shop. King returned to the car about 10 or 15 minutes later and Julius felt he looked “spooked.” They drove back to the grocery store and parked behind the Suburban, but King just sat in the car for several minutes not getting out.

King then said that the garage didn’t want it because there was “a body on the truck” or something like that. Julius claims that he didn’t know what he was talking about, but had a bad feeling and wished he had gone to the police.

Finding Jordan

Julius claims that King was “obsessed” with finding Jordan so Julius suggested going to look for him at the Macklanburg Recreation Center where Julius and Jordan had played basketball. When they arrived they saw Jordan’s Cutlass in the parking lot and King went inside the building with Julius following him a short time later. Jordan was there and he and King went off to a corner and had what looked like a serious conversation.

King then left the gym in his car and Jordan drove Julius back to his parent’s house. Jordan turned on the news and that’s when Julius found out about the carjacking and murder from the night before. Jordan left Julius’ parent’s house but left his car behind.

In hindsight, Julius realized that he should have gone to the police, but he says he didn’t because he was becoming concerned about not only himself but his family’s safety. Around midnight on Friday Jordan called him and asked him to pick him up from a laundromat because he had been locked out of his grandmother’s house.   In the docuseries, Julius claims that Jordan showed up at his parent’s house claiming that he got locked out of his grandmother’s house (clemency vs. docuseries).

Julius then says that he took Jordan’s car to go pick him up and then they came back to Julius’ parent’s home. Julius claims that he went to the living room to watch some tv and call some girls on the family phone and then he fell asleep on the couch.

The Setup

Jordan meanwhile had gone upstairs to Julius’ room because he said he needed to make some calls and used the other phone that had a separate line in Julius’ bedroom. It’s at this point, that Julius believes Jordan hid the gun and bandana that the police would later find and set him up. When Julius woke up the next morning, Jordan was gone.

Julius claims that he cut the grass and was on the phone with another friend when he had received a call on the other line from Ladell King. Later Julius had learned after his arrest that Ladell King was in police custody when he called him. Julius claims that the call was short as he was on the other line talking to a girl.

Shortly after Ladell King hung up Julius received another call asking him if he was home. Figuring it had to do with Christopher Jordan and not wanting to get involved Julius says that he told the person on the other end that “Julius wasn’t there and hung up”.

Julius says that he left to find out what was going on and went out the back door of the house. This was a door that the family always used to come in and out of the residence. He denies sneaking out or jumping out of a window. Julius saw several police cars on his block and on the next block down he ran into Jordan who had been walking towards his parent’s home. He claims that Jordan said that they should head over to Ladell King’s apartment to find out what is going on.

Julius is Arrested

When they arrived, King’s girlfriend told them that the police had Ladell and Jordan told her not to worry and that he would talk to the police. When Jordan and Julius got back into Jordan’s car he asked Julius to go tell his brother that the “police were looking for us.” Julius thought the “us” meant Jordan and his brother, not him.

Jordan got out of the car near Macklanburg Recreation Center. Julius thought Jordan was going to talk to the police and Julius agreed to tell his brother what was going on.

Early Saturday morning Julius was arrested at Christopher Jordan’s brother’s apartment. He had stayed the night because he was too afraid to go back to his parent’s house. When they handcuffed him Julius claims that they dragged him to the police car high fiving one another and told him he “was going to fry.”

Julius also claims that when he was being transferred to an Edmond police car an officer removed his cuffs and said, “Run (n-word), I dare you, run!”

Closing Arguments/Jury Deliberations

In the prosecutor’s closing arguments they painted a picture of Julius Jones as being a thug and criminal who needed to be locked up.

The jury, made up of two women and 10 men, were out for approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes and when they came back they found 21-year-old Julius Jones guilty on all counts.

  • Murder in the First Degree (carried a death sentence)
  • Possession of a firearm earned him 15 years to run consecutively
  • Conspiracy to Commit a Felony got him 25 years again to run consecutively 

Sentencing

During the sentencing stage of the trial, prosecutors set out to show the jury that Julius Jones was a continued threat to society by presenting evidence of similar crimes. They presented evidence linking Julius to two armed robberies that occurred in a restaurant parking lot on two consecutive days in July 1999 (the same month as Paul Howell’s murder). The witnesses who testified described the assailant as a black male who wore a bandana over his face and had a handgun.

The victim from the first robbery was not able to identify Julius as the assailant, but the second victim was.

In a news article in The Oklahoman in August 1999, they reference a carjacking of a 1999 Mercedes that was found at a Norman apartment complex. The same complex where Julius lived. Fingerprints taken from on the Mercedes are referenced as belonging to Julius. The car was stolen from was the Hideaway Pizza Restaurant on July 22, 1999.

On July 21, 1999, another vehicle, this time a Lexus RX300 was carjacked, but all the witnesses could say is that it was a black male with a “shiny” semiautomatic pistol.

The prosecution also tied a jewelry store robbery that occurred in July 1999 in an Oklahoma Mall to Julius even though the eyewitness was not able to identify Julius, but another witness testified that the car that they saw speeding out of the parking lot resembled Jordan’s car (1972 Cutlass). Jordan testified that Julius had borrowed his car that day and when he returned it he had some gold chains on him that he confessed to stealing.

He was sentenced to death at the age of 21.

Appeals

Once Julius exhausted his state appeals he was assigned two new defense attorneys from the Federal Public Defender’s Office

  • Dale Baich 
  • Amanda Bass

They immediately began looking into Julius’ case and felt that there had been a miscarriage of justice and their goal was to try to get Julius a new trial by either finding new evidence or showing that Julius did not receive a fair and impartial trial.

Bias

In November 2015 the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied relief for Julius’ appeal. What the defense team discovered is that Judge Jerome A. Holmes, who was appointed in May 2006 by President George W. Bush, had written an op-ed piece in The Oklahoman. He wrote the piece on April 28, 2002, in what was the state’s largest newspaper. At the time he was a federal prosecutor and he stated his opinion that there was no racial bias in Julius Jones’ trial and he “deserved to die”. 

He’s allowed to have his opinion, but not when he also sat as one of the three judges to decide Julius’ appeal in 2014.

Holmes should have recused himself, but he didn’t and actively participated in the oral arguments part of the appeal and voted to deny Julius’ appeal. His failure to disclose about his op-ed piece gives off the appearance of bias “regardless of whether there is actual bias.” – based on numerous case law

There can be no appearance of bias. All of this wasn’t discovered until December 5, 2015, when Julius’ original trial lawyer, David McKenzie, noticed that Judge Holmes’s was one of the three judges that decided Julius’ appeal and alerted Julius’ new defense team about this conflict of interest. This decision was overturned on appeal throwing out the 2015 decision to uphold Julius’ death sentence and a new panel of three judges would hear Julius’s appeal again in 2016 and again it was denied.

Emmaunuel Littlejohn

The defense team found that there had been two inmates who shared a cell with Christopher Jordan for a short period of time. One of them was Emmanuel Littlejohn.

Littlejohn and another inmate that had come forward prior to the start of Julius’ trial. They claimed that they heard Christopher Jordan bragging about setting Julius up. He felt guilty but did so so that he wouldn’t face the death penalty and he had a deal that he would only serve a 15-year sentence if he testified for the prosecution.

Christopher Jordan was released from prison after serving 15 years in December 2014. He was freed free and clear with no parole or ongoing monitoring.

Both of these inmates had not received or would receive anything for coming forward and they were not asking for anything so they had nothing to gain, as one was already sentenced to life and one was sentenced to death. Dave Mackenzie stated in the docuseries that he didn’t put either of the inmates on the stand due to credibility issues.

In 2007 an appeals court would deny relief because they felt that the two inmates would not have been credible.

Sweetheart Deals

The defense team also found out that both Kermit Lottie and Ladell King had gotten sweetheart deals from the state for their testimony contrary to what the prosecution had told the defense and judge. Kermit Lottie was facing a 40-year sentence on federal drug charges. When the prosecution and defense met with the judge outside of the jury during Julius’ trial the prosecution claimed that Lottie had not received nor would receive anything by testifying for the prosecution.

The new defense team would come to find out that Detective Fink had written a letter to a federal prosecutor asking for leniency in Lottie’s case stating that his information and cooperation had been invaluable in the arrest of Julius Jones. This letter was written on January 25, 2001, a year prior to the start of Julius’ trial. Kermit Lottie ended up serving 4 years.

Ladell King was being brought up on bogus check cashing charges.  Being a three-time convicted felon he was also looking at about 20 years behind bars. His case was dismissed entirely and he got probation for his involvement in the Howell murder conspiracy.

Juror’s Comments

But the biggest piece of new evidence to fall into their lap came on October 17, 2017. Producers of the ABC Docuseries “The Last Defense” made contact with a juror from Julius’ case. This juror told producers that something had not been sitting right with them all these years.

According to the ABC Docuseries: they reported that one day when the jury was waiting for an elevator to take them to the jury room another juror made the statement about “how this is a waste of time” and that “they should just take the (n-word) out and shoot him behind the jail”. These statements were made prior to jury deliberations while the trial was still going on.

The juror would share this information with Julius’ new defense team on November 2, 2017, and this would be added to Julius’ January 25, 2019 petition to the United States Supreme Court. This is where the description of what happens differs from the docuseries. 

In the petition, it states that on February 27, 2002, a juror had notified the judge about a male juror’s comments stating “they should just place him in a box in the ground for what he has done.” This comment was made during the first break in the jury room. This juror also claimed that at least six other jurors were present when these comments were made. The juror felt that they could remain impartial, but they were not to be discussing the case since deliberations had not started yet. This juror also noted that once the comments were made no one commented on what was said.

Juror Goes to the Judge

The juror also stated that they had gone to the judge about these comments – this is apparently in the trial record – but no mention of the racial slur was specifically written down. The judge polled the jury about whether or not they could remain impartial and they all stated they could.

The juror(s) who had made the statement(s) claims they could not remember making them. The juror who had made the racially biased statement remained on the jury and was not replaced by an alternate.

In Julius’ Jones vs. State appeal that was decided in January 2006 Julius’ lawyers address a juror making a comment outside of deliberations in the second stage of the trial. This juror was also not removed and this was denied as Julius failed to show the “alleged misconduct was prejudicial.”

In December 2017 Julius’ new defense team filed a petition with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on grounds that Julius’ jury was tainted by racial prejudice. In June 2018 the Court of Criminal Appeals denied his petition.

The Red Bandana & DNA Testing

For 19 years the red bandana had never been tested. It was entered into evidence as having been found in the attic crawlspace wrapped around the murder weapon, but for whatever reason was never tested.

Julius’s new defense team wanted it tested believing whoever wore the bandana that night had left saliva on it. On May 22, 2017, the red bandana was sent to Lorton, Virginia to the Bode Cellmark Forensics Lab for testing.

On October 29, 2018, they received some interesting results. First, there was no silva found on the bandana. Julius Jones’ DNA is found on the bandana but were at least three other individual’s profiles. Christoper Jordan was compared to those samples but a determination could not be made as Jordan’s sample was only a partial profile and could not be compared to the other three or more profiles found.

In reading the lab report, Julius Jones had a new DNA swab used for comparison whereas Christopher Jordans was an old one probably from back when he was first detained.

The Gun

Who was in possession of the .25 caliber semiautomatic? It was never clearly stated in the news articles or the docuseries where Julius admitted that he had a firearm.

The only information outside of Jordan’s statements I could find was in the state appeal to the court of criminal appeals that Julius had told his girlfriend prior to the murder of Paul Howell that he had bought a .25 chrome-plated semiautomatic for protection.

Where This Now Stands

Julius Jones has exhausted all of his appeals. Oklahoma halted all executions for the last five years but are set to begin again. The hiatus was due to two botched executions in 2014 and 2015. They plan to continue with lethal injections of the three-drug cocktail.

Clemency Application

An application for clemency was submitted to the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Commutation Application on October 15, 2019. This is different than asking for pardon, on October 15, 2019.

According to the Oklahoma Pardons & Parole Board website. Commutations are when a prisoner is asking for a change to a less severe sentence, such as life without the possibility of parole or with the possibility of parole. It is not considered early release it is to correct an “unjust or excessive sentence.” It is rare is a two-step process.

  • The first stage involves a Qualification Review
  • The second stage (if you pass the first) is a Commutation Hearing, which has a specific process
  • If a favorable recommendation is made to the Governor, Kevin Stitt, they have no set time limit as to when they sign it or not

Pardons are acts granted by the Governor. Again according to the website there are six criteria a person has to meet in order to be eligible for a pardon. One is they can’t currently be in jail or prison. Another is they “must not have any new or pending charges…”

New Charge

On July 22, 1999 (6 days prior to Paul Howell’s murder) a carjacking had taken place at a Hideaway Pizza Restaurant. Evidence pointed to Christopher Jones involvement. Jordan said he was there, but stayed in his car and it was Julius Jones who stole the car.

In 2006 Julius plead guilty to the Hideaway carjacking and got 12 years. Julius denies being a part of that crime but took the plea because if he did eventually get his conviction overturned on appeal he didn’t want to still be facing life in prison.

Currently

Julius Jones is now 39 years old and has been behind bars more than he has been free.  He is currently on death row at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. In his clemency application, Julius tells his story and asks questions like why the District Attorney, now David Prater, will not allow Julius’ defense team to access the prosecution’s file on his case?

Julius continues to claim his innocence.

Supporters

Besides the docuseries, John Legend and Kim Kardashian West have thrown their support behind #justice4julius asking for the pardon and parole board to seriously consider Julius’ clemency application. Kim Kardashian West tweeted out to her 62.1 million followers on October 16, 2019.

Also, U.S. Rep. for Oklahoma Kendra Horn has encouraged Governor Stitt to consider clemency for Jones.

Questions

(with not having read the full trial transcript from 2002)

Were there any witnesses that saw Christopher Jordan’s girlfriend’s red Geo Prism at the Jones’ residence on the day of the shooting?

Was it verified that Julius and Christopher Jordan had been at the AutoZone, Chevy’s Garage, or Championship Auto?  

Any surveillance or witnesses?

Were there any phone records from the Jones’ residence the day after the shooting (Thursday) that would verify that Ladell King called Julius asking him where Jordan was?

Also, any pager information to confirm that Ladell King had tried to contact Julius?

Was there any video surveillance outside of the Central Market Grocery Store that showed Julius driving King’s car and King driving the stolen Suburban?

Was there any surveillance outside of the recreation center that would place Julius and King there the day after the shooting?

Were there any eyewitnesses at the recreation center that saw Julius and King arrive and anyone, beside Julius, see Jordan and King talking in the corner privately?

Was there any surveillance from outside or on the way to Ladell King’s apartment the night of the murder showing who was driving the Suburban?

Did the police talk to Ladell King’s girlfriend to confirm or deny she talked to Christopher Jordan and Julius the day Ladell was in police custody?

Did Christopher Jordan call anyone when he went upstairs early Friday morning and if so, who?

Were the clothing and the red bandana tested for gunshot residue?

Were the bullets found in the magazine tested for DNA or fingerprints?

Can anyone put the gun in Christopher Jordan’s hands?

Why was the red bandana not tested for DNA prior to trial?

Were there any polygraph tests done with Julius Jones, Christopher Jordan, Ladell King, or Kermit Lottie?

My Thoughts

At the end of all this, I have to honestly say I’m torn.  I do have questions and doubt, not sure it’s beyond reasonable, but I will say I do not believe Julius Jones got a fair trial back in 2002.  His trial attorneys seemed ill-prepared to try a capital murder case and therefore were ineffective. I also believe from the research that deals were made that were not fully disclosed to the defense. 

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