Hours before his execution, family and supporters of Julius Jones continued waiting for Gov. Kevin Stitt to say whether he will accept a recommendation to spare his life.
Jones' supporters are holding vigil outside the governor's mansion until he grants clemency or until Jones has been killed. Several news outlets reported Ebenezer Baptist Church Pastor Derrick Scobey, a vocal advocate for Jones, was arrested for standing in the street during a larger demonstration a little before 7:30 p.m.
Jones' mother spoke publicly earlier Wednesday with time running out before her son is put to death for a crime there's serious doubt he committed. At a capitol news conference in the afternoon, Madeline Davis-Jones compared her son's looming lethal injection to a lynching.
"We should be through with that. Do you want your baby, your child to be hanged? And especially if there's nothing they've done. If Julius had done wrong, he would admit it, I would. I'd be there for him, but I would not be lying for him," Davis-Jones said.
Jones has been in prison almost 20 years and has maintained his innocence in the 1999 murder of Paul Howell. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has twice recommended Stitt grant Jones clemency and reduce his sentence to life with the possibility of parole, citing doubts about his guilt and problems with his trial.
"And if you think Julius is guilty, give him a fair trial. Do it over again. Do it right," Davis-Jones said.
Stitt has reportedly met with the Howell family, prosecutors, defense attorneys and clergy, but he has declined to meet with Davis-Jones or other members of Jones' family. The governor's office has said he has been in prayer.
The Rev. Cece Jones-Davis said she doesn't understand what Stitt claims to be praying about when the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has offered the same recommendation two times: once in an unprecedented commutation hearing and once in Jones' clemency hearing after Stitt said that was the proper venue.
"There's nothing to pray about. There's something to decide. Get your will together, governor. Line up your will with the will of God," Jones-Davis said. "Line it up with the will of God, don't line it up with your base don't you line it up with a political party. Don't you line it up with the good old boy system."
Jones' supporters have been at the capitol all week calling for clemency. Calls for Stitt to accept the parole board's recommendations have come from around the world and across the political spectrum.
