In a move that celebrities, community leaders, Democrats and Republicans all worked to halt right down to the last minute, Julius Jones’ death sentence in Oklahoma has been commuted. 

Jones’ fate ultimately lied in the hands of Governor Kevin Stitt, who many hoped would make right a longtime wrong following a 3-1 recommendation from the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. He will now spend life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

RELATED: Julius Jones’ Mother ‘Crushed’ Governor Stitt Hasn’t Halted Execution 

In a statement issued hours before his scheduled execution, Jones’ lawyer Amanda Bass said they’d hoped Stitt wouldn’t move forward, considering the many concerns surrounding the case and the execution process. 

“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,” she said. “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 overwhelming evidence of Julius’s innocence, we are grateful that the Governor has prevented an irreparable mistake.” 

News of Jones’ execution commute and subsequent life sentence prompted civil rights leaders, celebrities, journalists and the Black community as a whole to react on social media.

“Black News Tonight” host Marc Lamont Hill said in a series of tweets that while Jones will live to fight another day, it is because “the People fought back” and not because Governor Stitt suddenly had a change of heart.

Reality television star Kim Kardashian, who who was among the celebrities who previously petitioned in Jones’ favor, thanked the Governor for stopping the execution.

In a series of tweets, she said she spent much of her day Wednesday on the phone with Jones, who refused to take the anti-anxiety medication given to people before they’re executed.

Jones spent the last 20 years on death row after being convicted for the 1999 shooting death of Paul Howell, a white businessman who was killed in the driveway of his parents’ home. 

RELATED: Court Reverses Conviction and Death Sentence of Jesse Johnson 

A Change.org petition supporting Jones in his struggle to establish his innocence garnered over 6.5 million signatures, saying he was “suffering” every minute that no action was taken. 

Jones was one of seven prisoners awaiting execution in Oklahoma in the next six months, according to the Innocence Project. His execution would’ve been one of the first in Oklahoma since a statewide moratorium was imposed in 2015 following a string of botched executions. 

RELATED: Missouri Executes Ernest Johnson After SCOTUS Refuses to Intervene