A convicted murderer whose execution was halted with just hours to spare gorged on a feast of McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut for his 'final meal'.
Julius Jones, 41, was due to die by lethal injection at a state prison in Oklahoma on Thursday after his appeals were denied by the courts and the governor initially refused to spare his life.
But at the eleventh hour Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commuted the sentence to life without parole, hours before Jones was scheduled to be put to death for a 22-year-old murder, in a case that has attracted the support of celebrities including Kim Kardashian West.
Jones has now spent more than half his life on death row for the July 1999 robbery and murder of insurance executive Paul Howell, who was shot by a disguised gunman after getting ice cream with his two young daughters and sister.
It was later revealed by The Oklahoman that Jones had been served his last meal order before his clemency had been announced.
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said that Jones had eaten food from KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut.
He had two KFC sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and mayo, one large McDonald's French fries with salt and ketchup, and one medium meat lovers pizza from Pizza Hut.
He also took bottled water.
Jones had always maintained his innocence and his supporters said his life should be spared because of doubts in the case, but Mr Howell's family was certain he was the gunman that day.
Reacting to the news that his sentence had been commuted, Jones' attorney Amanda Bass said they were grateful for the Governor preventing an "irreparable mistake".
She said: “Governor Stitt took an important step today towards restoring public faith in the criminal justice system by ensuring that Oklahoma does not execute an innocent man.
“While we had hoped the Governor would adopt the Board’s recommendation in full by commuting Julius’s sentence to life with the possibility of parole in light of the overwhelming evidence of Julius’s innocence, we are grateful that the Governor has prevented an irreparable mistake.”
