The Murder Weapon

After waiting to obtain a search warrant, law enforcement engaged in a search of Jones’ parents’ home. Police found the murder weapon, a .25 caliber handgun, which was confirmed by ballistics testing. The handgun was wrapped in a red bandana and found in the attic space above Jones’ bedroom closet at his parents’ home, along with a magazine for the gun which was in the doorbell chime housing. Jones also had a white T-shirt with black trim and a black stocking cap in his bedroom.

In addition to the Cutlass he shared with Jordan, Jones owned a Buick Regal that he took to a transmission shop on the day after the murder.  The mechanic called police because he found .25 caliber ammunition, small knives and a pantyhose that was knotted on top in the car (Tr. VIII 291-92).

Jones’ girlfriend testified that she was with Jones in the Cutlass in the summer of 1999 when she found a handgun resembling the murder weapon in the center console of the car. Jones admitted the gun was his, claiming he kept it for protection. Jones’ girlfriend also found a red bandana in the car’s glove box.

DNA Testing

In 2017, Jones filed a post-conviction application in Oklahoma County District Court seeking DNA testing of the red bandana found wrapped around the murder weapon.

In the report from the DNA testing laboratory (which was selected by the defense), an area of the bandana that fluoresced under an alternative light source tested presumptively negative for saliva, but contained DNA consistent with Jones. The probability of randomly selecting an unrelated individual with the same DNA profile is approximately 1 in 1.3 billion in the US Caucasian population; 1 in 110 million in the US African American population; and 1 in 1 billion in the US Hispanic population. 

Christopher Jordan was excluded as the major component of this profile.

The presumptively negative test for saliva does not mean that Jones was not wearing the bandana over his face when he shot Paul Howell. In a February 15, 2019 email, the DNA testing lab explains (in response to Jones’ defense counsel’s assertion that the testing clarified the absence of saliva on the red bandana) that any saliva present may have broken down over time or the saliva could have been diluted below the sensitivity of our test. These comments were unrefuted by Jones’ expert (page 2 of Eli Shapiro, PhD).

This red bandana had been identified on Jones by multiple witnesses, including the only eye-witness to the murder and in Jones’ car by his girlfriend. The murder weapon, a .25 caliber handgun, was found in the attic space above Jones’ bedroom closet in his parents’ home wrapped in a red bandana. The same bandana that contained Jones’ DNA. The totality of evidence overwhelmingly established Jones’ guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Placing Jones with the Suburban

On the night of the murder, two uninvolved eye witnesses placed Julius Jones at Ladell King’s apartment with the Suburban. King’s girlfriend and neighbor, both residents at the same apartment complex as King, testified to seeing Jones with the Suburban.

Inconsistent Alibi

Over the years, Jones’ story of his whereabouts during the shooting have changed.

Jones’ then-girlfriend testified at trial that Jones told her he was somewhere “on the south side [of Oklahoma City]” when Paul Howell was murdered (Tr. IX 34-35). 

1. Later in his direct appeal, Jones claimed he was home with his family members at the time of the murder. The OCCA ordered an evidentiary hearing on this claim. At the hearing, the State proved that Jones’ attorneys thoroughly investigated this possible alibi - including speaking with Jones’ parents and sister, Jones himself, and a family friend whom Jones’ parents said was also present.

2. David McKenzie and Malcolm Savage both testified that Jones repeatedly told them his family was mistaken and he was not at home on the night of the murder (3/21/05 Tr. 179, 182-84; 3/22/05 Tr. 16-19, 34). Jones was “unequivocal that he was not at home with his parents, as his parents had described, with regard to the evening that Mr. Howell was murdered.” (3/22/05 Tr. 18).  The family friend told Jones’ attorneys’ investigator that she was not at the Jones house on the night of the murder (3/21/05 Tr. 177-82; 3/22/05 Tr. 14, 27-28). Both the family friend and Julius Jones agreed that the night they were both present at the house was the night before the murder (3/21/05 Tr. 179-84). In fact, the family friend even had a receipt from a trip to Kinko’s that she and Jones’ mother had made together on the day before the murder (3/22/05 Tr. 86-87). The defense was also aware that Jones’ girlfriend and other witnesses (to include Jordan, King, King’s neighbor and King’s girlfriend) placed Jones not at his parent’s home that evening (3/21/05 Tr. 186-94; 3/22/05 Tr. 19-27). 

Letters from Jail

Jones wrote a threatening letter to his girlfriend from jail when he learned she planned to testify for the State.

Letter from Jones to his girlfriend dated November 22, 1999 (State’s Exhibit 119):

So you’re going to have to do something for me now really for your safety, not that I’m threatening you, but I got some stupid ass relatives, you know, so if they do call you to the stand, your best bet is to say you don’t remember, unless you just don’t care about me coming home. That’s what you need to say because they can’t arrest you or . . . charge you with nothing [sic] for saying that. 

Jones wrote a letter to his girlfriend asking her to lie.

Letter from Jones to his girlfriend dated November 3, 2000:

As you should know, I go to trial on the 8th of January and I told my attorneys that we’re still together because they had been questioning me of my status and things. And if you do end up having to testify, do not! [sic] tell them people that I was doing anything illegal, okay? Just tell them you really don’t know what I was doing and if they bring up your past statements, just say you don’t recall that or something to that effect.

Jones wrote a letter to his girlfriend admitting he’s had a violent past.

Letter from Jones to his girlfriend dated September 26, 2000:

I’m “Thankful” to be alive. Because half the stupid “Shit!” I was doing, I should or could be dead or locked up for the rest of my life.