Emergency request filed as execution looms for Julius Jones

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Attorneys for Julius Jones have filed a last-minute emergency request seeking a temporary stop to his execution scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has kept quiet about his decision on whether he will grant clemency. The request says Oklahoma’s lethal injection procedures post a “serious and substantial risk of severe suffering and pain to prisoners” and cites last month’s execution in which John Marion Grant convulsed and vomited as he was being put to death. Jones was convicted of murder in the 1999 killing of Paul Howell, a suburban Oklahoma City businessman. The 41-year-old Jones maintains he was framed by the actual killer, a co-defendant who testified against him and was released from prison after 15 years.