Did they ever reopen the case for the murder of Ronda Morrison, since Walter McMillians was proven to be innocent, or had the statute of limitations passed then? His time spent in prison was torture not only to McMillian but to his family and friends as well. It was too easy for the state to convict someone for that crime and then have him sentenced to death. No. I cant imagine how infuriating it must be to experience something like this. In addition, one of his sons had married a white woman. This left McMillian even more clueless as they didnt provide him with an explanation for how or why he was being charged with such a crime. "[6] Stevenson disagreed, telling the court that "it was far too easy to convict this wrongly accused man for murder and send him to death row for something he didn't do and much too hard to win his freedom after proving his innocence. They had already received previous backlash from the public because his son was known for marrying a white woman. 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. Another time journalism helped bring justice into worldview was in the Walter McMillian case. The nearly all-white jury convicted Mr. McMillian of capital murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. The only evidence connecting McMillian to the killing was testimony by Myers, in line with his recorded statement, and two other witnesses who claimed to have seen McMillians "low-rider" truck outside the building at the time that the crime allegedly occurred. Walters case complicated the debate in very graphic ways. "[6] In a prison interview in 1993, McMillian said, "The only reason I'm here is because I had been messing around with a white lady and my son married a white lady. An uncle of the murder victim, in fact, came by and told them she was killed, witnesses said. In the last two years of his life, he couldnt enjoy the outdoors or get around much without help. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. LitCharts Teacher Editions. They knew their statements against a white mans perjured testimony didnt stand a chance.4, McMillians trial lasted two days. I feel like they done put me on death row, too. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. Walter McMillian and Bryan Stevenson Equal Justice Initiative. He then slipped him a note, supposedly written by Karen Kelly, but McMillian looked confused and threw the note away. [7][14], McMillian's "appellate lawyers discovered that prosecutors had withheld evidence and that the state's star witnesses had lied. As depicted in Just Mercy, Walter McMillain's case was among the first - and the most important - of attorney Bryan Stevenson's career.After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1985, nearly a year before Morrison's murder (an inaccuracy in the film's timeline), Stevenson moved first to Atlanta, Georgia and then to Montgomery, where he helped form the Alabama Capital Representation . His conviction was wrong One of the biggest worries is whether youll get the kind of legal assistance you need to save you from execution, he testified. 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. Until his dying wish he did not receive justice for his wrongful conviction. Genealogy for Walter Miles McMillian (1850 - 1922) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. A 60 Minutes segment and other national press coverage about his case led to other exonerations. Mr. McMillians conviction was overturned and he was released from death row. He met Karen Kelly, who was 25 and unhappily married, at the Waffle House where he ate breakfast. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC), Voting Rights Protests of 1965 (Selma-to-Montgomery Marches). As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. Little did he know that the murder of Ronda Morrison would impact his life in a major way later on.2, On June 7, 1987 at around 11:00 a.m, McMillian was peacefully driving down Route 84. The visits from his family were the only thing getting him by in his time there. Walter McMillian. His trial lasted only a day and a half. But the laughter today felt very different. [9], On February 23, 1993, in Walter McMillian v. State in the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, all judges concurred that "the state suppressed exculpatory and impeachment evidence that had been requested by the defense, thus denying the appellant due process of law, requiring the reversal of his conviction and death sentence, and the remand of the case for a new trial. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. He "did not have a history of violence. According to NYU (where he's an Aronson Family Professor of Criminal Justice), he started representing death row inmates from the Deep South in 1985, and founded the nonprofit law organization Equal Justice Initiative in 1989. And he had an alibi: He was at a family fish fry the morning Ronda Morrison was murdered. It also emerged that District Attorney Theodore Pearson "had concealed evidence proving his innocence": a witness had seen the victim alive after the time when prosecutors claimed that McMillian had killed her. Despite the lack of any physical evidence linking McMillian to the murder of a white clerk named Ronda Morrison, he was arrested for the crime more than six months after it took place. Walter often sought better work to support his family. Research the McMillian family Start your family tree now. Skip Ancestry main menu Main . [19] Subsequently, McMillian settled out of court with other officials for an undisclosed amount. To him and his family, the money he got from picking cotton was worth a lot more than an education. It is also so sad to think about the families of those who are wronged by the justice system and to imagine what they themselves are going through. The National Registry of Exonerations is a project of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society at University of California Irvine, the University of Michigan Law School and Michigan State University College of Law. WRONGFUL CONVICTION 2 In Monroeville, Alabama November 1, 1986, a white woman by the name of Ronda Morrison was murdered. "[9] Myers confessed that "he knew nothing about the crime, that he was not present when the crime was committed, that he had been told what to say by certain law enforcement officers, and that he had testified falsely against McMillian because of pressure from the officers. After six months with no leads or suspects, their attention focused on Walter McMillian. The jury recommended a life in prison, but judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr. overrode their recommendation and imposed the death penalty. The author did a great job about explaining the life of Mr. McMillians and the troubles he experienced due to the fact of being wrongly convicted for a crime he didnt commit. During his interrogation, police said that they had witnesses who would testify that he had committed the Morrison murder along with Walter McMillian, a 46-year old African-American man who was notorious in the community because he had a white girlfriend. Walter married Maggie Ella McMillan (born Miller) on month day 1908, at age 24 at marriage place. As a result, a stunning number of innocent people have been sentenced to death. He was a family friend, and the rumor was that hed been lynched for dating a white woman. Margaret M (McMillan) Williams 12 Jul 1891 Ontario, Canada - 24 Jan 1932 managed by Dave Stern Susannah (McMillan) McRae 24 May 1810 Robeson, North Carolina, United States - 30 Aug 1886 managed by Rod Medders Jane (McMillan) Henderson abt 1809 Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom - abt 1859 managed by Lesley Robertson Her . After reading about the remarkable life and work of attorney Bryan Stevenson, whos saved hundreds from prison, learn all about the case of the Central Park Five, a group of non-white teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of brutally raping a white woman in the 1980s. "[9] McMillian's attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative filed a petition for a new trial alleging various constitutional violations, including "that a key state witness had recanted his testimony, that the appellant's conviction had been obtained by perjured testimony, and that the evidence of perjury was newly discovered." Mr. McMillian at his familys home on the day of his release after six years on death row. Walter McMillian died in 2013: he was 71-years-old. Before you check out Jamie Foxx in the new film Just Mercy, learn the true story of Walter McMillian, an Alabama man wrongfully convicted for a brutal murder who spent six years on death row. [7][Notes 7], McMillian later developed dementia, believed to have been brought on by the trauma of imprisonment. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. As Mr. Stevenson and the staff of EJI investigated the case, they discovered a ton of evidence that proved Mr. McMillian was innocent. He had all the evidence and witnesses he could and still knowing in the end it was useless and wouldnt help him for his case is sad. Walter Lester McMillian, 72, of Fancy Gap, died May 26, 2002, in Beverly Health Care-Blue Ridge. I am also worried about others. We are all broken by something. "[6], Eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison, a white dry-cleaning clerk, was murdered at Jackson Cleaners on November 1, 1986, in Monroeville, Alabama. And this case had given him lots of fodder. The trauma Mr. McMillian experienced led to early-onset dementia. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. This article was very sad and eye opening for the treatment of black men in a still prejudice south. -Graham S. The timeline below shows where the character Walter McMillian appears in, Stevenson explains that he will focus on the story of, general, Stevenson is amused. 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. Report an error or add more information about this case. 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. Ariana Brockington. Mr. McMillian was held on death row prior to being convicted and sentenced to death. A Life on Both Sides of the Ocean Mary McMillan in her early twenties Mary McMillan was born in Boston in 1880, just a few years after her parents emigrated from Scotland. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against McMillian, holding that a county sheriff could not be sued for money damages. On the other hand, maybe the jury has more fault, since surely the defense attorney would had pointed out the inconsistencies of the witnesses testimonies, meaning that it cant be trusted, but the majority of them ultimately decided to turn a blind eye too. 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