Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma has granted clemency to Julius Jones, commuting Jones’ death sentence just hours before he was scheduled to be executed for a 1999 murder he says he did not commit.
CNN reports that Jones’ sentence will be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to an executive order filed Thursday. Jones was scheduled to be executed at 4 p.m. CT.
The governor came to the decision following “prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case,” he said in a statement on Twitter.