Walter McMillian
Walter McMillian was a black man who was exonerated from Alabama's death row in 1993 after it became clear that he was innocent. His conviction for capital murder and resulting death sentence was wrongly obtained due to police coercion and perjury. McMillian was cleared of all charges.[1]
Murder and conviction
McMillian, at the time of the murder, was at a church fish fry. Dozens of witnesses could confirm his presence, including a police officer. However, prosecutors suppressed evidence and found informants to testify against him. He was imprisoned on death row right away even before his trial, which lasted a day and a half. After his conviction, Bryan Stevenson took on McMillian's case.
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 pled guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term.[2]
As allowed by Alabama law, the presiding judge, Robert E. Lee Key Jr., changed the jury's recommendation of a life sentence to the death penalty.[1]
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.[2]
Exoneration
McMillian's attorneys, from the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, 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 had only been converted to a “low-rider” six months after the crime took place, and that prosecutors had concealed information about a witness who had seen the victim alive after the time the prosecutors claimed that McMillian had killed her. In addition, the two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillian’s truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial.[2]
McMillian was exonerated of all charges, and the sentence of death was reversed in 1993. Witnesses who had testified against McMillian admitted that they had committed perjury. Additionally, it was revealed that the prosecution had hidden vital evidence including the existence of a witness who had seen the victim alive after the time at which the prosecution contended the crime had occurred.[1]
Post-exoneration
McMillian filed a civil lawsuit against state and local officials, which went all the way to the U.S. 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's story forms the basis for a large part of Stevenson's book, Just Mercy, as well as another book. [3]
McMillian died in 2013.[2]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 "Alabama frees black man on death row for 6 years - Walter McMillan". Jet (Johnson Publishing Co.). March 22, 1993. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Walter McMillian The National Registry of Exonerations. University of Michigan. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ↑ "Walter McMillian". Bryanstevenson.com.