Local Groups Gather At State Capitol To Rally Against Death Penalty

The state has a plan to execute at least two dozen people over the next two years. 

On Monday, petitions were delivered to Gov. Stitt’s desk, calling on a moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma.

Several groups rallied at the capitol, including the Julius Jones coalition and death row exonerees. 

Some said several death row inmates have suffered abuse, brain damage, mental health problems and more

They went on to say that those cases should be looked at more thoroughly before receiving lethal injection. 

Two speakers know first-hand the effects that death row can have. Antoinette Jones stood and fought alongside her brother Julius Jones who was on death row for 20 years before his sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole in Nov. 2021. 

“Death is not the answer," said Antoinette Jones.

Jones said she thinks that there should be an alternative solution to the death penalty.

“There's so much that needs to be looked into. I think we need to slow down and take a look at these cases, there's got to be a better solution better than killing," said Jones. 

Herman Lindsey was exonerated from Florida’s death row in 2009, after serving three years for something he didn’t commit. 

Lindsey was convicted in 2007 for a robbery and murder. He now works with Witness to Innocence alongside other exonerees.

“I'm one of the ones they considered the worst of the worst, an animal," said Lindsey.

“They say people on death row are animals and they're the worst of the worst, but what do you think about somebody who is okay with executing 25 people over the next two years?”

Lindsey called lethal injection the easy way out.

“If you look at some of the worst killers in the world, they didn't receive the death penalty, they received live in prison," said Lindsey.

Don Heath with the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish Death Penalty, said many death row inmates were abused, abject to poverty and have mental illnesses. 

“We have abuse, physical abuse by parents, abject poverty, we have drugs and alcohol given to the children in grade school, we have mental illness, and we have brain damage," said Heath.

Heath said there should be more mental health resources and people to take a closer look at the past of some death row inmates.

“How would any one of us had done if we had grown up in those circumstances- could we have coped any better?," asked Heath.

He said he has worked with multiple inmates who died by lethal injection and said it is inhumane to continue with the death penalty.

“Lethal injection is a euphemism. If we call it, was it is, it's strapping a defenseless man to a gurney and poisoning him.”

“This is barbaric, we are better than this.”

All of the people rallying at the capitol Monday to ask Gov. Stitt to ultimately end the death penalty in the state. For right now, they ask for a moratorium on the death penalty in Oklahoma and to take a closer look at each of the 24 inmates on death row. They are not asking for all of these inmates to be released but are looking for an alternative option to lethal injection.

“Today I'm asking Governor Kevin Stitt to exercise the Christian tenet of forgiveness for all people on death row," said Re. Cece Jones-Davis, the director of the Justice for Julius Jones Campaign.

“To abolish the death penalty- but at the least to put a moratorium on the death penalty in the state and to look at an alternative solution to crime in the state of Oklahoma.”

News 9 reached out to Gov. Stitt for a response on the petitions, and he did not comment. Death row inmate Benjamin Cole is set to be executed on Oct. 20.