The Julius Jones Coalition presented a petition for a moratorium on the death penalty and to halt scheduled executions to the governor’s office Monday morning.
Antoinette Jones, co-leader of the coalition and Julius Jones’ sister, brought the petition to Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office in the Oklahoma state Capitol alongside exonerated Florida death row inmate Herman Lindsey. The petition was presented with 59 percent of its goal signatures as part of the World Day Against the Death Penalty, according to a press release.
Jones was joined at the state Capitol by members of Witness to Innocence, a national nonprofit organization founded by exonerated death row inmates. Lindsey, who was sentenced to death in 2006 but was released when the Florida Supreme Court reversed the verdict, is now the director of the organization and stood by Jones as they presented the petition.
During the speeches, Capitol employees and visitors passed through the halls around the advocates. Most of them only glanced at the advocates before moving on. Loud clanging rang out from carts rolling on the marble, drowning out the speakers at some points.
“One of the biggest problems is people’s fear of change,” Lindsey said. “But we must change. We must.”
Stitt did not exit his office to accept the petition or meet with the advocates. In a room outside his office, the group was quiet as Jones and Lindsey presented the petition with former Oklahoma State Sen. Connie Johnson. An aide promised to pass it along to the governor.
“As a person who is optimistic, I was hoping he would at least come out and say, ‘You are being heard, and I am listening,’” Jones said.
Oklahoma’s death penalty was the subject of federal litigation for eight years. The lawsuit claimed that the method of execution Oklahoma primarily used, a three-drug lethal injection, was unconstitutional due to the alleged pain and suffering caused by the process.
In October 2021, John Marion Grant was executed using the method. Media witnesses described watching Grant convulse and vomit. In February, the autopsy revealed vomit in his mouth, nose and airways. His case was part of evidence presented in the lawsuit.
In June, U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot said the process was constitutional.
“We’re calling on Gov. Stitt to stop this death machine,” Jones said.
Adam Luck, who served on the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board before resigning at Stitt’s request earlier this year, was one of several speakers outside of his former employer’s office. He expressed his frustrations that the recommendations from the board seemed to have no effect on Stitt’s decisions.
When the speakers were finished, the advocates stayed to chat with each other and media outlets at the event. At the same time, a small tour group passed by, watching silently.
“If the final fail-safe in the system can’t function as it was intended, then we must ask: What is the point?” Luck said.
