![]() "Paul Howell's murder was a terrible tragedy for his family and this entire community," Rep. Other Republican lawmakers have urged Stitt to listen to the recommendation of the five-member board, three of whom were appointed by the current governor. Though some see the trial as the final say in a conviction, in Oklahoma, the Pardon and Parole Board has the ultimate say as to whether or not someone receives the death penalty. What he does with it after that, I don't know what to recommend," McDugle said. "The biggest thing is that, if looking at this case, (Stitt) has any doubt, if (he) does not feel 100% comfortable with sending this guy to death row, then he needs to pull him off death row. McDugle said he hasn't looked that deeply into the case, but from what he has read and heard from Masters, he truly believes Jones does not belong on death row.Įarlier this year, the Republican lawmaker penned a letter to Stitt advocating on Jones' behalf he said he will continue to fight for Jones to be taken off death row. ![]() "But as far as some of these cases, there should be a very high bar for the death penalty." We've got to have a mechanism and take care of that kind of individual. "I really think we need to have the death penalty if we have a guy that. "The worst thing Oklahoma can do is put somebody to death and not be 100% sure," McDugle said. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow, said the state should absolutely have the death penalty for the most egregious of crimes, but if there is a sliver of doubt, execution should not be an option. One of those Republican legislators, state Rep. They aren't anti-death penalty Republicans - they're death penalty proponents who do not believe Jones should be executed. On Thursday, five Republican state legislators penned a statement urging Stitt to grant clemency to Jones. "And I think that's dangerous to just make assumptions along party lines and not really look at it as human beings and think, what is the moral thing to do? What is the right thing to do?" "If this appeared to be just simply a partisan issue or as some people have said, a liberal or Hollywood type of issue, if that's the way it was seen, then a lot of people wouldn't take the time to really dig into it and really learn the facts," she said. Masters said if Jones' execution was made to be a partisan issue, Stitt wouldn't have given it the time of day, which is why she began reaching out to her Republican contacts and asking them to take an objective look at the case. ![]() ![]() Masters, an attorney, is one of the leading advocates for Jones - she's fought to get advocates of all backgrounds on his side and testified at his clemency hearing.īut she realizes that for Stitt to consider anything, they needed to approach the situation differently. "The facts and the circumstances of the conviction are very troubling." "When people who typically are pro-death penalty and would not consider taking a look at the case, when they actually did take a look at the facts of the case and the circumstances of the conviction, it's very troubling, no matter what your beliefs are on the death penalty," said Kelli Masters, an advocate for Jones. In a poll released in June of this year, 77% of people who identify as Republican or lean to the right supported the death penalty, compared to only 46% of Democrats. Statistically, Republicans overwhelmingly support the death penalty, according to PEW Research Center. Jones has always had the support of anti-death penalty advocates such as Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City, the NAACP and celebrities like Kim Kardashian West and Stephen Curry - all of whom are unlikely to have much sway on the first-term Republican governor.īut recently, Republicans - both local and national - have come to Jones' support. ![]()
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