In this episode, Debra Fulton, Case Review Manager for Wrongful Convictions News, presents the case of Julius Jones. She discusses what was used against Julius to obtain a guilty verdict, including incentivized witnesses. There was plenty of doubt in this case, but yet Julius is still sitting on death row.
In this case, like so many others, “It’s important to understand how someone who has money is able to buy their way out of jail or prison, so you’re much better off in our justice system if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent,” said Sam Brooke, the Deputy Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in the article You’re Better Off ‘Rich and Guilty Than Poor and Innocent', in The Crime Report.
Most likely if Julius would have been financially comfortable, this case would never have seen the inside of a courtroom in the first place, as the identification would have excluded him—game over.
How is it just that the State gets to play the game with a Professional All-Star team while the defense has to play with nothing but a mere little league team? The saddest part of that question is the lack of hyperbole. The DA in Julius' case, Cowboy Bob Macy, Oklahoma County district attorney for 21 years, was famous—or should I say infamous—for being the second deadliest DA in the United States; unfortunately, he thought that was a compliment. Alas, almost half of his cases would go on to be overturned. While on the opposite side of ‘justice,’ Julius Jones, lacking the funds for the exorbitant fees it costs for a high-priced private attorney, wound up with a public defender who had never tried a death penalty case before and also had 70-80 other cases at the same time—Professional All-Star team…little league team! Got it?
Listen as Debra explains how teenager Julius Jones is forced to pay the ultimate price for a debt it is most likely he never owed.
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