Julius Jones refused to take anti-anxiety medicines that death-row inmates are usually forced to take before execution, according to reality TV star Kim Kardashian West. Jones’ death sentence was commuted to life without parole by Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, just hours before his scheduled execution at 4pm CT, Thursday. Jones had been on death row for two decades after being convicted in the 1999 killing of businessman Paul Howell during a carjacking in Oklahoma. Kardashian and several other celebrities has been urging Stitt to commute Jones’ death sentence.

Soon after the news that Jones’ life had been spared, Kardashian said on Twitter that she had spent most of the previous day on the phone with Jones.

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“While I was on the phone with him somebody came in the room to try to give him his anti-anxiety meds that you usually are forced to take before you are executed so that you can be more calm about the fact that you are about to be executed,” she wrote.

“However Julius refused because he said he has a clear conscience and that gives him peace knowing he is innocent and did not want to be drugged up.”

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Kardashian said her phone calls with Jones took place in between Jones’s meetings with his lawyer and visits from his relatives, which “still are not contact visits.”

Julias Jones execution: Governor Kevin Stitt commutes death sentence

“He cannot still hug his family members before being executed,” she noted. “He hasn’t in over 20 years.”

Kardashian said Jones “also wanted [her] to pass a few messages along that were really important to him.”

Jones alleges he was framed by the actual killer, a high school friend and former co-defendant who was a key witness against him.

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The case drew widespread attention after a profile of Jones was featured in The Last Defense, a three-episode documentary produced by actress Viola Davis, on ABC in 2018. Students at high schools across Oklahoma City Thursday walked out of their classes in support of Jones, while prayer vigils were held at the state Capitol. A petition against Jones’s execution garnered more than 6 million signatures.

(With AP inputs)