Update: Thursday, October 29 at 2:25 p.m.
In a last-minute decision, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the stays of execution of death row inmates John Marion Grant and Julius Jones on Thursday afternoon. This clears the way for the state of Oklahoma to execute Grant Thursday afternoon and Jones in three weeks.
The court's decision was by a vote of 5 to 3, with Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan saying they would deny the Oklahoma's motion to lift the stay. Gorsuch did not take part, as he formerly served on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, who granted the stay on Wednesday.
Grant's execution will be Oklahoma's first in nearly seven years. The state paused executions following the botched lethal injections of Charles Warner in 2015 and Clayton Lockett in 2014.
Jones' case has garnered national attention and support of criminal justice advocates and celebrities, after being featured in a 2018 ABC documentary. He is set to have his request for clemency heard by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Tuesday.
A federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Oklahoma's lethal injection procedures goes to trial in February.
ORIGINAL POST: Wednesday, October 28 at 4:29 p.m.
The executions of two death row inmates in Oklahoma have been temporarily blocked.
By a vote of 2 to 1, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted stays of execution for John Marion Grant and Julius Jones.
Three other death row prisoners — Donald Grant, Wade Lay and Gilbert Postelle — have also asked the 10th Circuit Court for stays, but their requests have not yet been acted on.
This follows a ruling on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, where Judge Stephen Friot did not grant stays of execution to the five prisoners.
The appeals asked the court to tell the state not to execute Grant or Jones before a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Oklahoma's lethal injection procedures goes to trial in February.
Grant was convicted of stabbing to death prison kitchen worker Gay Carter in 1998 while in prison on a 17-year sentence for armed robbery. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday afternoon, which would have been Oklahoma's first since the botched executions of Charles Warner in 2015 and Clayton Lockett in 2014.
Jones was scheduled to be executed on Nov. 18 in the 1999 shooting death of Edmond businessman Paul Howell. His case has garnered national attention and support of criminal justice advocates and celebrities, after being featured in a 2018 ABC documentary. He is set to have his request for clemency heard by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board next Tuesday.
Oklahoma says they plan to appeal the stays of execution to the U.S. Supreme Court.
