The police wouldnt buy it, and so Myers said he had information on the Morrison case. We all share the condition of brokenness, even if our brokenness is not equivalent [] Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. Several months later, police arrested 30-year-old Ralph Myers, a career criminal, on suspicion of murdering a woman in nearby Escambia County. The jury recommended a life sentence, but on September 19, 1988, the judge overrode the jurys recommendation and imposed the death penalty. Stevenson recounts the story Myers gave during. Walter Lester McMillian, 72, of Fancy Gap, died May 26, 2002, in Beverly Health Care-Blue Ridge. Walter McMillian worked hard providing for his wife and their three children. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Contact profile manager; View family tree; McMillian filed a civil lawsuit against state and local officials, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. 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. One of his friends said they were working on that same truck that morning; the transmission was out of it. I get that Morrison was at a disadvantage when faced against white men for that exact reason, but if the testimonies were so obviously inconsistent, they should have known better. 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. 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. Genealogy for Walter Miles McMillian (1850 - 1922) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Report an error or add more information about this case. I lost my reputation. The McMillian family: Walter McMillian had a family of believers. And thats how his affair with a white woman 18 years his junior became the talk of the town. He met Karen Kelly, who was 25 and unhappily married, at the Waffle House where he ate breakfast. In addition, the two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillians truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial. "[6], McMillian was known in the small community for having an affair with a white woman, Karen Kelly. McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001. Another time journalism helped bring justice into worldview was in the Walter McMillian case. On March 2, 1993, prosecutors dismissed charges against McMillian and he was released. His days were spent twenty-three hours a day in a dark cell. This set off a chain of events that changed Mr. McMillians life forever. In 1986, an 18-year-old white woman named Ronda Morrison was murdered in downtown Monroeville, Alabama. McMillian lost an appeal in 1991 and his conviction and death sentence were affirmed. The crime sent shock waves of fear and anger through the small community. He suffered mentally and physically to the point where he developed early on-set dementia. 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. [3] He died on September 11, 2013. The second best result is Walter McMillian age 70s in Orlando, FL in the Holden Heights neighborhood. Subsequently, McMillian settled with other officials for an undisclosed amount. The . They put me on death row for six years! Appellant told him that "I had a lovely family to be destroyed if I . He came to attention because he had an affair with a married white woman. Stevenson opens chapter five with over a page of direct quotations from McMillian's sister and other family members. Walter is related to Jane Marie Price and Jaline Renae McMillan as well as 3 additional people. The trial began on August 15, 1988. Financial TimesWalter McMillian (left) and Bryan Stevenson after McMillians conviction was overturned in 1993. Walters sense of humor hadnt failed him despite his six years on death row. He was subjected to graphic questions about the nature of his and Kellys relationship, and he left the courtroom feeling uneasy. McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001. On Feb. 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. "[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. Supporters celebrated Mr. McMillians release. Walter McMillian was married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years. / Walter McMillian (left) celebrates with family after Bryan Stevenson won his release from death row in 1993. 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. [7][9] Myers pleaded guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term.[7]. 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. This was adapted as an eponymous feature film, released in 2019. McMillian presented six alibi witnesses who testified that they had been with him at a family fish fry the entire day. Within weeks, McMillian was transferred to a maximum-security state prison in Atmore, Alabama. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000. But we keep fighting.. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. login . Born on Oct. 27, 1941, McMillian grew up in one of several poor black settlements outside Monroeville. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town By Pete Earley Bantam. His time spent in prison was torture not only to McMillian but to his family and friends as well. Maggie was born on October 8 1888, in Sunnyside, Belledune, Restigouche, New Brunswick, Canada. I believe there are other people under sentence of death who like me are not guilty.. Ariana Brockington. From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. Walter married Maggie Ella McMillan (born Miller) on month day 1908, at age 24 at marriage place. But the jury 11 white members and one black member took the prosecutions word. Sentimentality about Lees story grew even as the harder truths of the book took no roots. McMillian had explained to Sheriff Tate shortly after his arrest that he was at the fish fry on the morning of November 1. McMillian. The shift largely benefited white landowners and left most blacks unemployed. Their central case is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an independent pulpwood worker and family man known to most as Johnny D. He . Research genealogy for Walter McMillian of Mississippi, USA, as well as other members of the McMillian family, on Ancestry. He first encountered Walter while he was on death row (20). Early History of the McMillan family. 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. There was a tragic murder of eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison. The reveal of the witness being pressured to testify proves that the laws that help prevent these things dont always work. Resistance to acknowledging Mr. McMillians innocence was intense. "[3], After returning to his family and hometown of Monroeville, McMillian filed a civil lawsuit against state and local officials, including "the three men in charge of investigating the Morrison murder Tom Tate, the Sheriff of Monroe County; Larry Ikner, an investigator with the District Attorney's office in Monroe County; and Simon Benson, an investigator with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation",[19] for his wrongful prosecution and conviction. This article was very sad and eye opening for the treatment of black men in a still prejudice south. "[9] D.A. According to Myers, reinstated in 1975, the majority of Alabama death row inmates have been black, although when, that the practice is occurring. The author named chapter five after W.E.B. Last Updated December 25, 2019, 8:30 AM. The racial bias against McMillian is shown in his interactions with the law . He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. An effort to hold the sheriff accountable went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Court ruled that Sheriff Tate was protected from liability based on immunity laws. Things would be fine, he thought, as long as everything was kept secret. We in the African American community have always known that the criminal justice system is a threat, that it will take people who are innocent or wrongly convicted and it will treat people unfairly, Stevenson said in an interview with Essence magazine. "[6][Notes 1][5] McMillian was represented by attorney J. L. Chestnut. EJI filed civil rights lawsuits against state and local officials for incarcerating Mr. McMillian on death row before his trial in violation of his rights. 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. [15], Since then, the frequency of the judge override in Alabama has come under scrutiny: "Nearly seventy Alabama judges have single-handedly ordered an inmate's execution, and collectively they have done so more than a hundred times. When a mostly-white jury convicted Walter McMillian in 1988 for the murder of a white woman in Monroeville, Alabama and recommended life in prison, a local judge overruled them and imposed the death penalty instead. We have a choice. 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. As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. This is the true story of Walter McMillian, the wrongfully convicted man behind the film Just Mercy. I ought to take you off and hang you like we done that nigger in Mobile. They had already received previous backlash from the public because his son was known for marrying a white woman. 416 pp. 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. October 10, 1995. [emailprotected], Mr. McMillians testimony specifically addressed the failure to provide adequate legal help to people in prison and on death row. Stevenson recounts the story that Ralph Myers gave to police. The . When he visited McMillian in prison,[10][16][Notes 4][17] McMillian maintained his innocence. McMillian, freed from death row in 1993, died September 11, 2013, at age 71. Bryan Stevenson and EJI received death threats. But when the word got out about their affair, he grew worried. [6] McMillian's conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1991 in McMillian v. State, 594 So. I am at least happy to find out that Mr. McMillians made it out of deaths hand due to his lawyer, however this is one of many cases and not all of them end in a happy way. About $35 was missing. Jamie Foxx portrays McMillian and Michael B. Jordan stars as Stevenson. "[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. In the last two years of his life, he couldnt enjoy the outdoors or get around much without help. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Appellant, Walter McMillian, was jointly indicted with Ralph Myers, in a two-count indictment, on December 11, 1987, in Monroe County, for the capital offense of murder committed during a robbery in the first degree, in violation of 13A-5-40(a)(2), Code of Alabama 1975. . I feel sick about the six years that [McMillian] has spent in prison and the part I played in keeping him there. Walter McMillian died in 2013: he was 71-years-old. .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. McMillian (Jamie Foxx) was an African-American pulpwood worker from Monroeville, Alabama, who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of 18-year-old Ronda Morrison, a white dry-cleaning clerk. After a week of interrogation by the police, Mr. Myers accused Mr. McMillian, a pulpwood worker, as Ms. Morrison's killer. There are numerous examples of this shown throughout the book. Hooks later testified at McMillians trial. "[5] It emerged that Sheriff Tate and investigators with the Monroe County D.A. Walter McMillian was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Walter was implicated in the murder of Ronda Morrison, which led to a rather unfair trial against him. Another 267 words (19 lines of text) covering the years 1775, 1790, 1452, 1454, 1540, 1555, 1670, 1753, 1670, 1745 and 1745 are included under the topic Early McMillan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. The way the content is organized, Walters legal case serves as the central storyline of the book. I had never heard about this case before reading this article, and it is unfortunate to read about McMillian and his experience. Advertisement. 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. on our list, Other
"[10][11], On December 11, 1987, Walter McMillian and Ralph Bernard Myers, a career criminal,[13] were jointly indicted. . They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. One of the many Alabama cases assigned to him is that of. Part of the evidence revealed a tape where a witness confessed to having been pressured to frame McMillan. It was a pleasure to read this article about William McMillan. We encourage you to research and examine these . Today, more than 160 people who were on death row have been proved innocent and released. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Clients. His case lacked evidence but he was still. In addition, one of his sons had married a white woman. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. "[10], On February 23, 1993, in his fifth appeal to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, the judges ruled 50 to reverse McMillian's conviction and grant him a new trial. She supports and cares for her five children during Walter's incarceration. Pearson had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to McMillian's attorneys, including records from the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility and Myers' June 3 and August 27 statements. [5], Six years after the original trial, in an unrelated case, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals found that the prosecutor, District Attorney Theodore Pearson, and Judge Key "had practiced 'intentional racial discrimination' in jury selection. American wrongly convicted of murder (19412013), According to the 1993 appeal, Judge R.E.L. 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. [7][Notes 7], McMillian later developed dementia, believed to have been brought on by the trauma of imprisonment. On November 1, 1986, the body of 18-year-old part-time clerk Ronda Morrison was found under a rack of clothing at Jackson Cleaners in Monroeville, Alabama. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife Minnie, but, following an affair with a white woman, Walter was falsely accused and convicted of murdering a different white woman. They stopped him with guns pointing at his face, and they shoved him up against his truck. Walter "Johnny D." McMillian (October 27, 1941 September 11, 2013)[1] was a pulpwood worker from Monroeville, Alabama, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. 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 controversial case received national attention beginning in the fall of 1992. McMillian was convicted by a jury of eleven whites and one African American. 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. Bryan Stevenson, McMillian's defense attorney, raised awareness on the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Sexual or romantic relationships between blacks and whites were still very much taboo, especially out in the land of forests and plantations. [5] In 1986 he had been married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years and they had nine children. The appellant, Walter McMillian, was jointly indicted with Ralph Bernard Myers in a two-count indictment on December 11, 1987, in Monroe County, for the offense of murder made capital because it was committed during a robbery in the first degree, a violation of 13A-5-40(a)(2), Code of Alabama 1975. But the overwhelming evidence of innocence ultimately forced the State to agree to drop the charges. In the case Walter McMillian v. State proceedings it was recorded that Myers identified Larry Ikner, and Thomas Tate, as the law enforcement officers. There were dozens of Black people who could testify to his innocence but they were ignored. 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. Walter (Johnny D.) 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