Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield was among the athletes who made a plea to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt regarding the status of inmate Julius Jones, who was set to be executed Thursday.
Jones, who spent nearly 20 years on death row after being sentenced for the murder of Paul Howell in 1999, was granted clemency just hours before he was set to die.
Mayfield reacted to the news on Twitter.
“God is GREAT!!! Thank you to everybody that prayed and continued to pray!” he wrote.
Mayfield got extremely emotional speaking on Jones Wednesday.
“Yeah, that is pretty rough to be honest with you,” Mayfield told reporters on Wednesday, via ESPN’s Jake Trotter. “That’s not something that’s easy to talk about. I’ve been trying to get the facts stated and the truth to be told for a while, but it is tough to think about. Tried and tried. It is a shame that it has gotten this far. We are 24 hours away. So, it’s tough. You know, hopefully, God can intervene, and handle it correctly and do the things he needs to do.
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The 41-year-old Julius Jones has maintained his innocence for more than two decades and even while the state’s Pardon and Parole Board twice voted 3-1 to recommend Stitt grant Jones clemency and commute his sentence to life in prison.
“After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” Sitt said in a statement.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr released a video on his Twitter account calling for the stop of Jones’ execution.
“I wanted to put this video out, please share it. Please join in the fight to save an innocent man’s life. Do it for Julius. Do it for his family. Do it for our country. This cannot happen in a civilized nation and we have to keep this from happening. Do everything you can,” Kerr said.
