Walter McMillian

Walter McMillian (d. 11 September 2013) was an African-American man from Monroeville, Alabama, who was exonerated and freed from Alabama's death row in 1993. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his 1989 conviction and ordered a new trial. The prosecutors dismissed the case for lack of evidence, dropping all charges against him.

The Court of Criminal Appeals had ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted. His conviction for capital murder was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury by witnesses. The trial judge overrode the jury's sentence and imposed capital punishment. McMillian was cleared of all charges.[1]

Murder and conviction

When Ronda Morrison was murdered on November 1, 1986, in Monroeville, Alabama, Walter McMillian was at a church fish fry. Dozens of witnesses, including a police officer, could confirm his presence. However, prosecutors suppressed this evidence and found informants to testify against him. In June 1987, he was arrested and was immediately imprisoned on death row, even before his trial. It lasted a day and a half. After he was convicted and sentenced, the presiding judge, Robert E. Lee Key, Jr., overruled the jury's recommendation of a life sentence. He imposed the death penalty.[1] Attorney Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative took on McMillan's case, as he was providing defense counsel to people on Death Row.

The only evidence connecting McMillian to the killing was testimony by Ralph Myers, a career criminal, and two other witnesses, who claimed to have seen McMillian’s "low-rider" truck outside the building at the time that the crime allegedly occurred. Myers had pleaded guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term.[2]

Appeals

McMillian’s conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1991. On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillian’s conviction and ordered a new trial. On March 2, 1993, prosecutors dismissed charges against McMillian and he was released as an exonerated man.[2]

Exoneration

McMillian's attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, had filed a petition for new trial alleging various constitutional violations. In pursuing those claims, the attorneys obtained the original recording of Myers’ confession. After listening to it, they flipped the tape over and discovered a recorded conversation in which Myers complained bitterly that he was being forced to implicate McMillian, whom he did not know, for a crime neither of them had any role in.[2]

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. In addition, prosecutors had concealed information about a witness who had seen the victim alive after the time when prosecutors claimed that McMillian had killed her.[1] 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.[2][1]

McMillian was exonerated of all charges, and the sentence of death was reversed in 1993.

Post-exoneration

After returning to his family and hometown of Monroeville, McMillian filed a civil lawsuit against state and local officials for his wrongful prosecution and conviction. It was appealed to US Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against McMillian, holding that a county sheriff could not be sued for money damages. Subsequently, McMillian settled with other officials for an undisclosed amount. McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001.[2]

McMillian later developed dementia, believed to be brought on by the trauma of imprisonment.[3] McMillian died in 2013.[2]

Bryan Stevenson's memoir, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014), features Walter McMillian as one of the people he was able to help.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Alabama frees black man on death row for 6 years - Walter McMillan". Jet. Johnson Publishing Co. March 22, 1993. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Walter McMillian, The National Registry of Exonerations. University of Michigan. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. New York: 2000
  4. ↑ "Walter McMillian". Bryanstevenson.com.
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