Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commuted the death sentence of Julias Jones, shortly after attorneys for the death-row inmate filed an emergency injunction to halt his execution on Thursday. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt accepted a recommendation from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board for commuting Jones’ sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Joned has been on death row for two decades after being convicted in the 1999 killing of businessman Paul Howell during a carjacking in the suburb of Edmond. Jones was scheduled to executed at 4 pm CT.

Jones’ attorneys said Oklahoma’s lethal injection procedures post a “serious and substantial risk of severe suffering and pain to prisoners”, citing the botched execution last month of 60-year-old John Marion Grant, the first person in Oklahoma to be executed since a series of lethal drug mix-ups in 2014 and 2015 prompted a de facto moratorium.

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“This motion is being filed now admittedly on the day of Julius Jones’s execution. Nonetheless, it is timely under circumstances where the Governor has not acted on the clemency recommendation that, if accepted, would have obviated the need for this motion being filed seeking emergency relief today as it relates to Julius Jones.”

The European Union’s ambassador to the US wrote a letter to Stitt calling on him to stop the execution, while a petition against the execution has collected more than 6 million signatures.

Jones’ case has received widespread attention in part because of a three-episode documentary “The Last Defense” that aired on ABC. in 2018.

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Athletes and celebs including Baker Mayfield, quarterback for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, Kim Kardashian West, actors Kerry Washington and Mandy Patinkin, and NBA stars Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin and Trae Young, are among those who have opposed the execution.

Jones maintains he was framed by the actual killer, a high school friend and co-defendant who testified against him and was released from prison after 15 years.

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Jones’ mother, Madeline Davis-Jones spoke to a group of about 300 people, who had gathered at the Capitol on Wednesday outside of Stitt’s office.

Students at high schools across Oklahoma City walked out of their classes in support of Jones, while prayer vigils were held at the state Capitol.

“I don’t want to go to a lynching tomorrow,” Davis-Jones said, her voice rising with emotion. “Why would I want to see someone hang? We should be through with that. Do you want your baby, your child to be hanged?”

(With AP inputs)