Can Oklahoma’s current governor really preclude all future governors from further clemency grants for Julius Jones?
I just had a chance this morning to look at this actual executive order that Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt signed to commute the death sentence of Julius Jones to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The document is interesting in part because it states that the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation of a commutation to a “sentence of life with the possibility of parole” was not authorized by the Oklahoma Constitution or Oklahoma law and that the “Oklahoma Constitution and other laws of the State also do not provide the Governor authority to grant any such recommendation.” But speaking of a lack of authorization, I was especially struck by this additional part of the executive order:
The Governor has the power to grant commutations “upon such conditions and with such restrictions and limitations as the Governor may deem proper …. ” I hereby place the following conditions upon this commutation:
Julius Darius Jones shall not be eligible to apply for or be considered for a commutation, pardon, or parole for the remainder of his life.
In addition to laws prohibiting the Pardon and Parole Board from recommending and the Governor from granting to Julius Jones life with parole, now or in the future, the Pardon and Parole Board’s Rules prevent Jones from re-applying for commutation. Title 515, Chapter 15, Subchapter 15 of the Oklahoma Administrative Code states, “After receiving a favorable commutation of a sentence from the Governor, an Inmate is ineligible to apply for an additional commutation on the same sentence.”
Though I strongly dislike and disfavor any policy of ever precluding a person from ever re-applying for clemency, I suppose I can see some viable legal basis for state laws or rules to preclude repeated clemency applications. But, critically, this order seems to be trying to preclude all future Oklahoma executive officials from being able to even “consider” Jones “for a commutation, pardon, or parole for the remainder of his life.” And at the start of this order, Gov Stitt states his condition even more broadly: “I … hereby commute the death sentence of Julius Darius Jones to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, on the conditions that he shall never again be eligible to apply for, be considered for, or receive any additional commutation, pardon, or parole.” (Emphasis added.)
Jones is likely to live in prison for many decades, and further evidence of his innocence or other changed circumstances in the years ahead might want some future governor to consider and possibly grant some other form of clemency. I do not think there is any legal basis for a current governor to tie the hands of all future governors in the way, but I suspect Jones and his allies will be disinclined to worry or litigate about this future issue while still celebrating his removal from Oklahoma’s death row.
A few prior related posts: