"[6], McMillian was known in the small community for having an affair with a white woman, Karen Kelly. Seven months passed and every one of the polices leads went nowhere. He had about half a dozen of his friends and family members testifying that they were with him at the time of the crime. The author named chapter five after W.E.B. American wrongly convicted of murder (19412013), According to the 1993 appeal, Judge R.E.L. At the trial, Hooks kept his testimony and claimed to have seen the truck near the Jackson Cleaners at the time of Ronda Morrisons murder.3, McMillian was innocent. He "did not have a history of violence. Stevenson was motivated to take McMillian's case because of the use of the judge override. Walter McMillian was married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years. 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. Skip Ancestry main menu Main . [6] McMillian held two jobs and "no criminal record other than a misdemeanor charge stemming [from] a barroom fight". "[9][Notes 6][3][12] In pursuing those claims, the attorneys obtained the original recording of Myers' confession. [10][11], The 2019 film Just Mercy dramatizes McMillian's case, and stars Jamie Foxx as McMillian and Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson, with direction by Destin Daniel Cretton, based on Stevenson's 2014 book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.[20]. Morrison, who was white, had been bludgeoned, strangled and shot three times. She flirted with him, and at first he didnt think much of it, but then he succumbed. Police arrested McMillian (known to some friends as "Johnny D"), a black man, in 1987 and charged him with murdering an 18-year-old white woman named Ronda Morrison at a Monroeville, Alabama dry . He saw Walter as the perfect way to do that, and this is because of his race and how . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. As a black man living in southern Alabama, McMillian didnt stand a chance. I appreciate that the author provided just enough detail so the reader could form an emotional connection to this story. Walter was implicated in the murder of Ronda Morrison, which led to a rather unfair trial against him. [3][12] McMillian was arrested in June 1987. One of his friends said they were working on that same truck that morning; the transmission was out of it. They knew their statements against a white mans perjured testimony didnt stand a chance.4, McMillians trial lasted two days. He was subjected to graphic questions about the nature of his and Kellys relationship, and he left the courtroom feeling uneasy. In 1988, Bryan Stevenson met Walter McMillian and began working to appeal his conviction and death sentence. Mr. McMillian was held on death row prior to being convicted and sentenced to death. He had no prior criminal history and was a 45-year-old self-employed logger who had done work for many people throughout the community. Equal Justice InitiativeWalter McMillian spent six years on Alabamas death row for a murder he didnt commit. October 10, 1995. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. His trial start on Aug. 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. Walter married Maggie Ella McMillan (born Miller) on month day 1908, at age 24 at marriage place. [13][5][Notes 2], The "jury ignored multiple alibi defense witnesses, who were black, who testified under oath that he was at a fish fry at the time of the crime. Journalist Pete Earley covered it in his book Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town (1995). But the overwhelming evidence of innocence ultimately forced the State to agree to drop the charges. 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. Myers said he heard popping sounds, and that when he entered the building he found McMillian, with a gun, standing over the dead body of Morrison and robbing her. Then, read the harrowing last words of 23 executed criminals. The crime took place at the Jackson Cleaners in Monroeville. A new investigation was ordered. 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. HBOWalter McMillian (left) meets with his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. About $35 was missing. When she was five years old, her mother died of consumption, weakened from the grueling delivery of Mary's younger sister and heartbroken by the baby's untimely death. Walter McMillian (left) and Bryan Stevenson after McMillians conviction was overturned in 1993. Walter is related to Jane Marie Price and Jaline Renae McMillan as well as 3 additional people. Walter was born on October 27, 1941 and passed away on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. . McMillian was completely clueless as to why this was happening to him. [7], Upon discovery of this evidence, District Attorney Thomas Chapman, who had represented the state in McMillian's previous appeals, told Stevenson, "I want to do everything I can so that your client will not have to spend a single day more than he already has on death row. People were more concerned with convicting an innocent man of a murder he did not commit rather than finding the victims murderer. Walter McMillian was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a young white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. It was the laughter of liberation. On March 2, 1993, prosecutors dismissed charges against McMillian and he was released. When you are poor and under sentence of death you worry about a lot of things. "Just Mercy," a movie about the case, opens in theaters this . For many death row inmates, it takes years to get the kind of legal representation and investigation necessary to prove your innocence., Learn more about Walter McMillian by reading "Just Mercy". We are all broken by something. Amazon Removes Christmas Products Featuring Images Of Auschwitz After Online Blowback, Toxic Foam Washes Up On Indian Beach And People Keep Taking Selfies In It, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The trial began on August 15, 1988. Another time journalism helped bring justice into worldview was in the Walter McMillian case. But as much as his family fought against the system, the system had a way of taking hold. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. They had an affair, and when Kellys husband found out, things took a turn. And thats how his affair with a white woman 18 years his junior became the talk of the town. About $35 was missing. Kellys husband called McMillian to testify in their divorce proceedings. he sees the report about EJI for the first time. "[6] He was held there, pre-trial, for 15 months. As a gregarious guy who owned his own business rare for a black man in the area McMillian was a bit of a local celebrity. She was shot three times in the back, and it looked like money had been taken from the cash register. Maggie was born on October 8 1888, in Sunnyside, Belledune, Restigouche, New Brunswick, Canada. They lived in a sharecropper's shack. I am also worried about others. 1 Colonization and Settlement (1500-1763), 2 Revolution and Early Republic (1754-1801), 4 Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877), 5 Emergence of Modern America (1877-1929), 4 Late Middle Ages-Renaissance-Reformation Europe (1300-1648), 3 Post-Classical History (600 CE-1492 CE), HS 1302 United States History since 1877, SP 3392 Language Variation and Dialectology of Spanish, Michael B. Ross, The Execution of Innocence,, College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences. He was then taken to the local jail where the charge was quickly dismissed. It was clear that Myers and McMillian didnt know each other; Myers word was the sole evidence connecting McMillian to the crime. As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. He had lost his logging business and sold car parts until he became too ill to work. In the case Walter McMillian v. State proceedings it was recorded that Myers identified Larry Ikner, and Thomas Tate, as the law enforcement officers. He wasnt just enraged that his wife was cheating on him she was cheating on him with a black man. Starting with, ordinary life lets the reader know that this could happen to anyone of color. On Feb. 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. 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. Walter McMillian. us about an exoneration that we may have missed, Correct an error or add information about an exoneration They put me on death row for six years! Stevenson recounts the story that Ralph Myers gave to police. Despite having various witnesses on his side, it seemed useless. I lost my I lost my dignity.. [7][14], McMillian's "appellate lawyers discovered that prosecutors had withheld evidence and that the state's star witnesses had lied. This story was very sad to read, and unfortunately a clear reality in todays times with our criminal justice system in the United States. 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. Until his dying wish he did not receive justice for his wrongful conviction. (including. Stevenson came across McMillians case and met with him and began working on appealing his case. Judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr., "had McMillian await trial on death row, as if a death sentence were a foregone conclusion, and relocated the trial from a county that was forty per cent black to an overwhelmingly white one," Baldwin County, where 86 percent of the residents were white, because the case had "generated extraordinary publicity. I believe that needs to be discussed more, and I am glad you included how it had such a negative impact on McMillian and was traumatic. [7][Notes 7], McMillian later developed dementia, believed to have been brought on by the trauma of imprisonment. based on a true story, just mercy(2019) follows civil rights defense attorney bryan stevenson (michael b. jordan) as he recounts his experiences and details the case of a condemned death row prisoner, walter mcmillian (jamie foxx), whom he fought to free, as he becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and 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. But we keep fighting.. [7], In the fall of 1992, McMillian's case received national attention in the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Bryan, who was the attorney on Walter's case, was young and just starting his career. In addition, one of his sons had married a white woman. DuBois's short story "Of the Coming of John", which he discusses on page 100-101. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. Explore genealogy for Walter McMillian born 1941 Monroe County, Alabama, United States died 2013 including ancestors + more in the free family tree community. Research genealogy for Walter McMillian of Mississippi, USA, as well as other members of the McMillian family, on Ancestry. He became uncharacteristically emotional. 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. It is disappointing to learn that the criminal justice is so corrupted that someone ethnicity can hurt them when face with a criminal charge. 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. Her . Walters sense of humor hadnt failed him despite his six years on death row. 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. Walter McMillian (Photo/Equal Justice Initiative). The jury recommended a life in prison, but judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr. overrode their recommendation and imposed the death penalty. It was too easy for one person to come into court and frame a man for a murder he didnt commit. 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). In addition, the two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillians truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial. McMillian was accused of murdering an 18-year-old girl and was put on death row. When Chestnut and Boynton filed the standard motion to have, after Herberts execution, Stevenson visits death row to catch up with several new clients, including, an entire community hidden away in the woods. When Stevenson first enters the trailer of, invested their hopes in him, and he sees a parallel in the anguish felt by, Stevenson describes his growing familiarity with, because they were working together on the morning of Rondas death. EJI presented this dramatic new evidence but it took six years of hearings and appeals before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals finally ruled that Mr. McMillians conviction was unconstitutional. I don't give a damn what your people say either. [3] I am deeply troubled by the way the criminal system treated me and the difficulty I had in proving my innocence, he told the committee. Or we can deny our brokenness, foreswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity. 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. [4] According to his attorney Bryan Stevenson, McMillian purchased logging and paper mill equipment and became a "moderately successful businessman". But the laughter today felt very different. McMillian lost an appeal in 1991 and his conviction and death sentence were affirmed. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. He had spoken to other inmates on death row that day, but Walter's case is the one that . After an investigation revealed that McMillians truck was converted to a low-rider six months after the crime took place, the eye-witnesses recanted their testimony and admitted to lying. Several months later, police arrested 30-year-old Ralph Myers, a career criminal, on suspicion of murdering a woman in nearby Escambia County. 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. Things would be fine, he thought, as long as everything was kept secret. The reveal of the witness being pressured to testify proves that the laws that help prevent these things dont always work. Walter McMillian was nearly put to death for a crime he did not commit One of young lawyer Stevenson's first and most incendiary cases after founding the non-profit Equal Justice Initiative was. 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