NBA stars Trae Young, Russel Westbrook and Blake Griffin wrote to Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma's Pardon & Parole Board, urging them to commute the sentence of Julius Jones, an Oklahoma inmate on death row. The news was first reported by nondoc.com.
Jones was convicted of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death in 2002 for the killing of Edmond businessman Paul Howell in 1999. He has claimed innocence for 20 years, and applied for clemency in October 2019 to the Pardon & Parole board.
Young, the Atlanta Hawks star who grew up in Norman and starred at Norman North High School and OU, wrote in his letter that Jones' sentence was the result of a poor legal team that didn't do him justice amid inconsistencies with Jones' co-defendant.