His status as a middle-aged white man who had been mercilessly gunned down by a member of the so-called unruly black community gave it further visibility in the state, with Edmond police hard-pressed to track down the perpetrators as swiftly as possible.

His murder came as a shock to the city, which, to this point, was nothing more than a spectator to such violent crimes.

Howell was a well-known member of the Edmond community, with neighbors attesting to his jovial demeanor and his willingness to help, no matter what the situation. His sister, who was the only witness to the crime, informed the police that the shooter was an African-American man who was sporting a red bandana and had approximately half-an-inch of hair sticking out from underneath his stocking cap. On July 28, 1999, Edmond insurance executive Paul Scott Howell was shot and killed in a carjacking gone wrong. But a cruel twist of fate and a betrayal from a friend made him the prime suspect in a murder, and eventually, condemned to death. Born into a middle-class African-American family, Julius had an elder brother, Antonio Jamaal Jones, and a sister Antoinette Jones, and his life was looking on the up. A model student, if there ever was one, he was the co-captain of the school's football, basketball, and track teams, and had been accepted into the University of Oklahoma on an academic scholarship.

In 1999, Julius Jones was a member of the National Honor Society and had graduated from the John Marshall High School in Edmond, Oklahoma, with top honors. ABC's 'The Last Defense,' an investigative docu-series exploring controversial death penalty cases, turns its attention from Darlie Routier, the mother convicted of murdering her two sons, to Julius Jones in its second half, and explores how the 19-year-old was possibly framed for a crime he did not commit.

Julius jones case