Oklahoma City
The evidence implicating an Oklahoma death row inmate whose case has drawn national attention is overwhelming and his for commutation is filled with “demonstrable falsehoods,” Oklahoma County’s top prosecutor wrote in a letter this week to the state’s pardon and Parole Board, the Associated Press reported.
The murder conviction of Julius Jones, 40, for the 1999 shooting death of Edmond businessman Paul Howell in front of Howell’s two young daughters has drawn the attention of reality television star Kim Kardashian West and athletes with Oklahoma ties who have urged Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt to commute Jones’ death sentence and spare his life, according to AP.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater detailed the evidence against Jones in a 15-page letter Monday to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board in which he urged the panel to deny Jones’ request for a commutation hearing. Jones is scheduled for a phase one commutation hearing next week before the five-member parole board, AP reported.
This week, Jones’ legal team released a video and a letter from a man, Christopher Jordan, who served time in Arkansas’ prison with a man who was with Jones when Howell was killed, testified against him and served 10 years in prison. Jordan has since been released. In the video, Arkansas inmate Roderick Wesley alleges Jordan confessed to killing Howell and framing Jones, according to AP.
Oklahoma City
The number of Oklahoma death due to the illness caused by the COVID-19 jumped by about 2,500 Wednesday as the state health department began using the counts reported by the federal Centers for Disease Control, the Associated Press reported.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 7,035 death using the CDC’s number which is based on death certificates. The pending change was announced Monday by state epidemiologist Dr. Jared Taylor, who said the state’s lower total was due to the state more fully investigating deaths of people diagnosed with COVID-19, rather than relying only on death certificates, according to AP.
Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Council extended the city’s mask ordinance until April 30, after hearing the city could achieve herd immunity by June, an estimated 80-percent rate of vaccination in the population. The mask mandate does not extend until June, but council member David Greenwell said it could be extended, AP reported.
“We’ve been very flexible to have these extension occur roughly every 6 weeks, just to take into account development in terms of new information about the virus,” Greenwell said.
Woodward
A fire tore through an Oklahoma home early Wednesday, killing six people including several children, the Associated Press reported.
One boy managed to escape the blaze after the first firefighter at the scene heard a voice from inside the home and managed to knock an air conditioner from a window with the help of a bystander, according to Woodward Fire Chief Todd Finley. Finely said the boy was expected to make it, but the department was unable to save the other six people inside, according to AP.
Finley declined to say how many children died in the fire, but he said the dead included a mix of kids and adults and the state medical examiner’s office would work to identify them, AP reported.
Flames were shooting out the door and windows of the home when firefighters arrived, and the heat from the blaze started melting firefighters’ masks when they tried to enter. Finley said he didn’t know if the home had working smoke detectors and the state fire marshal’s office was trying to determine the cause of the blaze, according to AP.
Oklahoma City
Randy Lew Williams, 58 of Edmond, was sentenced to serve more than 3 years in federal prison for illegally shipping firearms to the Middle East, in addition to two other firearms violations, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
June 1, 2020, Williams was charged with violating the Arms Export Control Act, making a false statement to a firearms dealer, and possession of an unregistered firearm. According to court records, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Legal Attaché in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) notified the FBI a Fed Ex shipment had been seized by UAE authorities in Dubai December 19, 2018, according to the release.
The shipment contained multiple Glock pistols and firearms parts. Shipment records indicate the shipment was sent from Williams via an address in Oklahoma City to the intended recipient located in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. Williams did not have a federal firearms license or authority from the Department of Defense to export defense articles outside the United States, according to the release.
June 26, 2020, Williams pleaded guilty to all three counts charged. Williams was sentenced to serve 40 months, or 3 years and 4 months, in federal prison, followed by 2 years of supervised release on each count. He has been in custody since his arrest March 2, 2020, according to the release.