Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board

Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor is asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to disqualify two members of the state pardon and parole board for the upcoming clemency hearings of two death row inmates, including high profile prisoner Julius Jones.

There’s been a recent uptick in parole revocations in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board had 14 such cases last month.

"In March 2020, after having several months with no revocation hearings, that was the amount of hearings that it took just to get caught up for the previous, I believe, five months, and that's how many we're seeing every month now," General Counsel Kyle Counts told the board on Monday.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma prosecutor is again asking the state Supreme Court to remove two members of the Pardon and Parole Board from the case of a high-profile death row inmate.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater filed the motion Monday to remove Kelly Doyle and Andrew Luck from the clemency hearing for Julius Jones. Prater alleges the two are biased because of their work with inmates on criminal justice reform.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma County judge has agreed to convene a grand jury to investigate potential wrongdoing by the state’s Pardon and Parole Board and conditions at the Oklahoma County jail.

Oct. 28 could be the date for Oklahoma’s first execution in years. 

60-year-old John Marion Grant is the first of seven men in line to be executed. Grant was sentenced to death for the 1998 stabbing and killing of 58-year-old Dick Conner Correctional Center employee Gay Carter.

Sarah Jernigan, the assistant federal public defender for western Oklahoma, said she hopes Grant’s clemency hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 5 in front of Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole board will go her client’s way. 

A former Tulsa police officer convicted of armed robbery in 2013 may have his 35-year prison sentence reduced. 

Former District Judge Tom Gillert sentenced Marvin Blades Jr. to 35 years in prison and 35 years of probation after Blades was found guilty of robbing five Latinos he stopped while on duty. 

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has set tentative dates for clemency hearings for high-profile death row inmate Julius Jones and five others who have exhausted their legal appeals.

The clemency hearings for the inmates would take place 21 days before their scheduled executions, according to The Oklahoman.

Formal approval of the hearing dates will not be made until the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals weighs whether the capital punishments may move forward.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Monday learned what it can do in dozens of cases from December through March that ended in denials because of tie votes.

The typically five-member board was down to four after former Chair Robert Gilliland resigned in mid-December, and around 300 cases ended in ties. Those are considered denials under current policies.

Agency general counsel Kyle Counts told the board the 130 commutation requests that got 2–2 votes have to wait three years under current policies.

Death-row inmate Julius Jones’ stage two commutation hearing will take place under new rules to give the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board additional time to consider his case.

The board voted Monday to make Jones’ stage-two hearing an "enhanced" review. Jones’ delegates, the district attorney’s office and victims’ representatives will get 30 minutes each. When they voted in March to advance Jones’ application, enhanced review didn’t exist.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announced Monday he’s hiring a former U.S. attorney to look into allegations against the state’s Pardon and Parole Board.

Hunter said in a press release that former Eastern District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney Brian Kuester will lead the probe. Because Hunter’s office represents the state in clemency hearings before the board, he determined an outside counsel should look into the claims.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma County’s top prosecutor is suing Gov. Kevin Stitt and the state’s Pardon and Parole Board, alleging the board is not following state law on notifying prosecutors about commutations it is considering.

The lawsuit filed Thursday by District Attorney David Prater also alleges two board members appointed by Stitt, Kelly Doyle and Adam Luck, have a conflict of interest because of their work with released inmates.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The evidence implicating an Oklahoma death row inmate whose case has drawn national attention is overwhelming and his application for a commutation is filled with “demonstrable falsehoods,” Oklahoma County’s top prosecutor wrote in a letter this week to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board is down to four members for the time being.

Board Chair Robert Gilliland resigned in mid-December due to health reasons. He was appointed in February 2019. His absence raises the possibility of tie votes, which, according to board procedures, are considered denials.

In many cases, people in prison must wait three years before applying again after their application is denied. Pardon and parole board general counsel Kyle Counts told the board this week they can, however, bring back many cases with tie votes.

An analysis from criminal justice reform group FWD.us says commutation approvals in Oklahoma have plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their report shows the pardon and parole board approved 33% fewer stage one applications last year compared to 2019, despite considering more applications. The overall approval rate fell from 46% to 19%, and the approval rate for nonviolent offenses dropped from 74% to 35%.

The COVID-19 pandemic has never been worse in Oklahoma, and at the end of this week, public bodies must go back to meeting in person.

A temporary change to the state’s open meetings act that allowed remote meetings expires on Sunday. That has state agencies and local governments trying to figure out how to meet safely.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board hired a new executive director on Monday with a unanimous vote.

Tom Bates will now lead the agency. He was most recently a special adviser to the governor and director of an initiative trying to bring together Oklahoma’s health and human services agencies.

Bates was also interim director of the state health department for about a year and a half starting in April 2018. Bates stepped into that role after allegations of financial mismanagement at the agency, and he was in charge as it started up Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Monday voted against letting its executive director take leave in a bid to help settle tensions between him and a board member who threatened him with a grand jury investigation.

The vote was 2–2, but the absence of Chair Robert Gilliland went down as a third vote against Executive Director Steven Bickley’s request for a roughly six-week leave.

Saying someone must advocate for the family of Paul Howell, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter released on Monday a 12-page summary to outline what he says is "overwhelming" evidence of guilt for Julius Jones, a Black man on death row 20 years for a crime he and advocates say he didn’t commit.

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to recommend special medical parole for 12 inmates determined to be at elevated risk from the coronavirus pandemic.

At a virtual meeting of the board on Wednesday morning, Steven Bickley, the body's executive director, explained how the specific inmates ended up on the docket. 

"The agency received a letter from [Oklahoma Department of Corrections] Director [Scott] Crow on Friday, May 1st, recommending 14 inmates for medical parole," Bickley said. "That is authorized by him under statute."