On August 17, 1988, the jury of eleven whites and one African American found McMillian "guilty of the capital offense charged in the indictment"[9] and recommended a life sentence, based on the testimony of four state's informants found by the prosecution: Ralph Myers,[9] a career criminal; Bill Hooks, Jr.; Joe Hightower;[9] and one other. They found evidence that the States witnesses against Mr. McMillian had been coerced, including tape recordings proving that the States only eyewitness had been pressured to testify falsely at Mr. McMillians trial. Appellant told him that "I had a lovely family to be destroyed if I . Walter with friends and Stevenson The McMillian family was known to be a "large, tight-knit family" made up Walter, his wife, Minnie, and five children. 2. Like Walter, she is from the poor black community just outside of Monroeville. Bryan Stevenson took on Mr. McMillians case in postconviction. On the night Walter McMillian, a black woodcutter in rural Alabama, was . He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife. Just Mercy is a 2019 American biographical legal drama film co-written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson, Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, and Brie Larson.It explores the work of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson who represents poor people on death row in the South. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. He knew it, his family knew it, and his friends knew it. But then police arrested Ralph Myers, a white man with a drug problem and a lengthy criminal record who was also a new friend of Karen Kellys, McMillians ex. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against McMillian in a civil lawsuit filed against state and local officials in Alabama, citing that a county sheriff cant be sued for money damages. To him and his family, the money he got from picking cotton was worth a lot more than an education. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. They brought him to a store where McMillian and a few other black men were shopping, but Myers couldnt tell which one was his supposed partner-in-crime; he had to ask the stores manager to identify him. The best example of racial bias and prejudice is Walter McMillian's case because it shows both extreme racial biases and extreme racial prejudices against McMillian because of the color of his skin. Walter McMillian (Photo/Equal Justice Initiative). The prosecution presented their three witnesses: Myers and the two men who said they saw McMillians low-rider truck outside the dry cleaners on the morning of the murder. Walter McMillian (left) meets with his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. He "did not have a history of violence. What effect does this have. .com is the online source for current local and national obituary news and a supportive community where friends and family can come together during times of loss and grieving to honor the memories of their loved ones with lasting personal tributes. Known to his friends and family as Johnny D, Mr. McMillian spent 15 harrowing and tortuous months on Alabamas death row before trial. [9][Notes 5], In 1992 the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in McMillian v. State 594 So. According to Myers, reinstated in 1975, the majority of Alabama death row inmates have been black, although when, that the practice is occurring. Death: Immediate Family: Son of Laban Parks McMillian and Ada Kirk. We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. In a 2015 NPR interview, Stevenson described how that phone call was a "very, very bizarre start to my career and to the work that I was doing in Alabama." His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. Her . Testimony of the trial lasted a day and a half. How Racism, Police Incompetence, And Lying Witnesses Put Walter McMillian On Death Row For Six Years. Walter is related to Jane Marie Price and Jaline Renae McMillan as well as 3 additional people. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. He also filed civil lawsuits for his sentencing to death row. Struggling with distance learning? In 1986, an 18-year-old white woman named Ronda Morrison was murdered in downtown Monroeville, Alabama. They lived in a sharecropper's shack. Years later when the case settled, the compensation was much less than had been hoped. Just Mercy tells the story of EJI's clients, from Walter McMillian and Anthony Ray Hinton who were exonerated from Alabama's death row to Joe Sullivan and Ian Manuel who won release after being sentenced to die in prison for nonhomicide crimes in Florida when they were just 13 years old. Contact profile manager; View family tree; [5][14], The two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillian's truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial, committing perjury. When he visited McMillian in prison,[10][16][Notes 4][17] McMillian maintained his innocence. [9], Further investigation revealed that McMillian's truck, supposedly seen by witnesses at the scene of the crime, had not been converted to a "low-rider" until six months after the crime took place. Supporters celebrated Mr. McMillians release. McMillian, was charged with first degree murder, the murder of a very well known white girl in the community. What happened to Walter McMillian in a small Alabama town in 1987 has long been pointed to as a classic example of a miscarriage of justice. When asked whether his change of fortune restored his faith in the justice system, McMillian simply replied, No. They put me on death row for six years! Bryan, who was the attorney on Walter's case, was young and just starting his career. His story was a counter narrative to the rhetoric of fairness and reliability offered by politicians and law enforcement officials who wanted more and faster executions. "[6], The story was featured in a 1995 book entitled Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town by former Washington Post journalist Pete Earley. "[6], McMillian was known in the small community for having an affair with a white woman, Karen Kelly. Teachers and parents! . McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. I cant imagine how infuriating it must be to experience something like this. McMillian was looking at two options for his sentence: death by electrocution, or life in prison. . Walter McMillian, who was born on October 27, 1941, lived in a black settlement near Monroeville where he "grew up picking cotton. The suspect, who was from a prominent family then fled town. McMillian had explained to Sheriff Tate shortly after his arrest that he was at the fish fry on the morning of November 1. Part of the evidence revealed a tape where a witness confessed to having been pressured to frame McMillan. Walter McMillan spent six years on death row for a crime he didn't commit, but even after the Alabama resident was exonerated, he remained tormented by his years behind bars. [6] McMillian's conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1991 in McMillian v. State, 594 So. When you are poor and under sentence of death you worry about a lot of things. On Feb. 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. 2d 1289 (Ala.Cr.App.1992) denied the claims by McMillian's attorneys. Throughout the case, Stevenson battles political and legal maneuverings, as well as overt and institutional racism, all in the name of fighting for . Key had retired by 1993, During the 1993 appeal it was revealed that, "Two mechanics, Willie Nettles and Clay Kast, testified that they had modified the appellant's truck to convert it to a low-rider and that they did not do this work until several months after the commission of the crime at Jackson Cleaners. Weeks later, at around 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 1, 1986, 18-year-old Ronda Morrison a white college student who was beloved by the local community was found dead at a Monroeville dry cleaners, where she worked part-time. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. McMillian later developed dementia and died in 2013, but his name lives on at the center of the criminal justice reform movement. Because the case generated extraordinary publicity in Monroe County, where the white population was 60 percent, the trial was moved to Baldwin County, where whites made up 86 percent of the population. TRIAL: Defense asked for the trial to be moved from Monroe County to Baldwin County in Alabama due to the publicity. They convicted McMillian of first-degree murder. [4] According to his attorney Bryan Stevenson, McMillian purchased logging and paper mill equipment and became a "moderately successful businessman". In Alabama, elected trial judges were authorized to override a jurys life verdict and impose the death penalty. Equal Justice InitiativeWalter McMillian spent six years on Alabamas death row for a murder he didnt commit. After, Stevenson agrees to work with the CBS program 60 Minutes to produce a story about, an innocent man in prison until the real murderer is found. The crime sent shock waves of fear and anger through the small community. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. Meanwhile, six witnesses testified in McMillians defense, saying he was hosting a fish fry at his house during the crime. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Eventually, Myers gave a taped confession in which he said that he drove McMillian to the scene of the crime and that McMillian went into the building alone. Equal Justice Initiative With his conviction overturned, Walter McMillian was released from death row in 1993. I lost my job. This story is incredibly heartbreaking and sadly not very uncommon. Subsequently, McMillian settled with other officials for an undisclosed amount. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. She supports and cares for her five children during Walter's incarceration. He writes that Norton was uninterested in the subject of, career, but had become passionate about the work of EJI after interning one summer. McMillian was then placed in a cell on death row where he waited for a year before his trial took place. Walter McMillian was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. One of his early cases was that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), who is put on deathrow in 1987 for the murder of an eighteen year-old White girl, regardless of the evidence proving his innocence. $23.95. Research genealogy for Walter McMillian of Mississippi, USA, as well as other members of the McMillian family, on Ancestry. The nearly all-white jury convicted Mr. McMillian of capital murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. The website is updated daily, frequently with exonerations that occurred in the past. The case outlines the basic premise of frustrated local law enforcement, the DA of Monroe County, needed to, for lack of a better term, save his ass. Advertisement. [emailprotected], Mr. McMillians testimony specifically addressed the failure to provide adequate legal help to people in prison and on death row. . His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. HBOWalter McMillian (left) meets with his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. "[Notes 3][4], On September 19, 1988, Judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr., overruled the jury's recommendation of a life sentence and imposed the death penalty. "[5] This practice, called judicial override, allows "elected trial judges to override jury verdicts of life and impose death sentences." They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. Karen confirms that Myers never met, Stevenson describes the situation preceding, The hearing begins. Home; . During their first year together, they almost starved, with Walter working as a field hand for $14 per week. The false testimonies claimed that they had seen McMillian near the cleaners the morning of the murder. 96-542 WALTER McMILLIAN, PETITIONER v. MONROE COUNTY, ALABAMA on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eleventh circuit [ June 2, 1997 ] Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. I lost my life. Within weeks, McMillian was transferred to a maximum-security state prison in Atmore, Alabama. That one testimony of Hooks was all it took to convict him for the murder of Ronda Morrison. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Each testimony had inconsistencies in their stories, but that did not matter. This is the true story of Walter McMillian, the wrongfully convicted man behind the film Just Mercy. The trial began on August 15, 1988. The fact that this man was innocent, and everyone knew, he was still guilty. Police could not solve the crime. From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. He wasnt just enraged that his wife was cheating on him she was cheating on him with a black man. In addition, one of his sons had married a white woman. In what The New York Times described as "an extraordinary move", McMillian "was immediately sent to Alabama's Death Row, in Holman State Prison, Atmore, which is usually reserved for convicted murderers awaiting execution. The trial lasted only a day and a half. But the jury 11 white members and one black member took the prosecutions word. The controversial case received national attention beginning in the fall of 1992. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against McMillian, holding that a county sheriff could not be sued for money damages. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. I am also worried about others. Tell
No fingerprints, no fibers not a single piece of physical evidence connecting McMillian to the crime scene. This set off a chain of events that changed Mr. McMillians life forever. The racial bias against McMillian is shown in his interactions with the law . The Alabama Bureau of Investigation ultimately confirmed the evidence uncovered by EJI and determined that Mr. McMillian was innocent, but prosecutors still wavered on whether they would join the motion filed by EJI to dismiss all charges against Mr. McMillian. In 1987 Walter McMillian (played by Foxx) was convicted of killing a white woman who was shot multiple times in the back at a dry cleaners. All NRE reports represent a moment in time. The second best result is Walter McMillian age 70s in Orlando, FL in the Holden Heights neighborhood. WRONGFUL CONVICTION 2 In Monroeville, Alabama November 1, 1986, a white woman by the name of Ronda Morrison was murdered. 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