When asked whether his change of fortune restored his faith in the justice system, McMillian simply replied, No. McMillian clearly recalled the moment the news got to them. The best example of racial bias and prejudice is Walter McMillian's case because it shows both extreme racial biases and extreme racial prejudices against McMillian because of the color of his skin. The author named chapter five after W.E.B. The police wouldnt buy it, and so Myers said he had information on the Morrison case. What happened to Walter McMillian in a small Alabama town in 1987 has long been pointed to as a classic example of a miscarriage of justice. 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. With no leads for six months, the police focused their attention on Walter McMilllian. 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. McMillian is portrayed by Jamie Foxx and Stevenson is played by Michael B. Jordan, the "Black Panther" star who has used his considerable leverage to bring the story to the screen. login . -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. [9], Following his own trial and sentencing, Ralph Bernard Myers told McMillian's trial counsel that the testimony he gave "against McMillian was false. The community heard about the tragedy as many had gathered for a fish-fry at McMillans home to raise money for their local church. 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. But the laughter today felt very different. The fact that the testimonial of the witnesses that saw McMillian near the cleaners the morning of the murder didnt even add up, and nobody seemed to care is upsetting. Walter McMillian worked hard providing for his wife and their three children. Soon, he went from being a man who had an interracial affair to someone capable of murder. It took a significant toll on his health and led to him developing early-onset dementia. Skip Ancestry main menu Main . 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. One of the many Alabama cases assigned to him is that of. Mr. McMillian was an unlikely suspect. [19] Subsequently, McMillian settled out of court with other officials for an undisclosed amount. Stevenson next calls to the stand Clay Kast, was being held on death row as punishment for refusing to continue his testimony against, testimony while Ikner, Tate and Benson coerce him to continue. . Early History of the McMillan family. He had spoken to other inmates on death row that day, but Walter's case is the one that . Explore genealogy for Walter McMillian born 1941 Monroe County, Alabama, United States died 2013 including ancestors + more in the free family tree community. Walter was implicated in the murder of Ronda Morrison, which led to a rather unfair trial against him. He then slipped him a note, supposedly written by Karen Kelly, but McMillian looked confused and threw the note away. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. "[6], The story was featured in a 1995 book entitled Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town by former Washington Post journalist Pete Earley. As a result, a stunning number of innocent people have been sentenced to death. His days were spent twenty-three hours a day in a dark cell. Part of the evidence revealed a tape where a witness confessed to having been pressured to frame McMillan. Mr. McMillians conviction was overturned and he was released from death row. You know theyll try to kill you if you actually get to the bottom of everything. But as much as his family fought against the system, the system had a way of taking hold. A 60 Minutes segment and other national press coverage about his case led to other exonerations. In 1992, Ed Bradley reported that the wrong man might have been sitting on Alabama's death row. . [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. From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. The jury recommended a life in prison, but judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr. overrode their recommendation and imposed the death penalty. In 1988, Walter McMillian, a black man, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for murdering an 18-year-old white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. He was then taken to the local jail where the charge was quickly dismissed. I lost my reputation. 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. But McMillian always proclaimed his innocence. Journalist Pete Earley covered it in his book Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town (1995). She was shot three times in the back, and it looked like money had been taken from the cash register. DuBois's short story "Of the Coming of John", which he discusses on page 100-101. "[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. As Bryan Stevenson, McMillians future lawyer, wrote in his memoir Just Mercy, Tree work is notoriously demanding and dangerous. His time spent in prison was torture not only to McMillian but to his family and friends as well. At the time of her murder, Walter McMillian was at a church fish fry, where he was seen by dozens of witnesses, one of whom was a police officer.[10][11]. The people of Monroeville, Alabama was shaken up with fear and anger by Morrison's murder. On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. In 1988, Bryan Stevenson met Walter McMillian and began working to appeal his conviction and death sentence. 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. When Minnie became pregnant in 1962, they were married. The following week, on March 2, Circuit Court Judge Pamela W. Baschab ruled on the motion, dismissing all charges against McMillian. McMillian had explained to Sheriff Tate shortly after his arrest that he was at the fish fry on the morning of November 1. The trial began on August 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. Born to a poor black family outside of Monroeville, Alabama, Walter became a successful small businessman as an adult. In 1986, an 18-year-old white woman named Ronda Morrison was murdered in downtown Monroeville, Alabama. His truck was later examined by Bill Hooks who claimed to have seen McMillians truck at the cleaners. What effect does this have. Despite insisting he was at a church fish dry with dozens of witnesses, including a police officer, he was seen as a suspect. What do we tell these children about how to stay out of harms way when you can be at your own house, minding your own business, surrounded by your entire family, and they still put some murder on you that you aint do and send you to death row? 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. We encourage you to research and examine these . On April 1, 1993, Mr. McMillian spoke to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about the urgent need to end the death penalty. "[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." . 2d 1289 (Ala.Cr.App.1992) denied the claims by McMillian's attorneys. Bryan Stevenson discusses the outrageous miscarriage of justice in the case of Walter McMillian. 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. They knew their statements against a white mans perjured testimony didnt stand a chance.4, McMillians trial lasted two days. They brought him to a store where McMillian and a few other black men were shopping, but Myers couldnt tell which one was his supposed partner-in-crime; he had to ask the stores manager to identify him. It was too hard in light of the evidence of his innocence to show this court that he should never have been here in the first place.. They tortured me with the promise of execution for six years. 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. Police were skeptical that Myers and McMillian were really accomplices, and so they conducted an experiment. Hooks later testified at McMillians 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. Suddenly, State Troopers, city cars, sheriffs, and deputies surrounded his car. American wrongly convicted of murder (19412013), According to the 1993 appeal, Judge R.E.L. In November 1988, 28-year-old attorney Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard Law School and Harvard School of Government graduate, who was the director of the newly formed Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center in Montgomery, took on the task of appealing the case. 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). After six months with no leads or suspects, their attention focused on Walter McMillian. [7][Notes 7], McMillian later developed dementia, believed to have been brought on by the trauma of imprisonment. Grandfather. Known to his friends and family as Johnny D, Mr. McMillian spent 15 harrowing and tortuous months on Alabamas death row before trial. We invite you to learn more about the clients featured in the book below. She is resilient, patient, intelligent and hospitable. Mr. McMillian was sent back to his cell on death row, where he ultimately spent six years. His trial lasted only a day and a half. 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". Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. But the overwhelming evidence of innocence ultimately forced the State to agree to drop the charges. Chestnut and Bruce Boynton, later testified that the state withheld evidence that proved his innocence. [13][5] Two of the witnesses claimed to have seen McMillian's "low-rider" truck outside the dry cleaner's around the time that the crime occurred. Research genealogy for Walter Mcmillian of Florida, as well as other members of the Mcmillian family, on Ancestry. Sexual or romantic relationships between blacks and whites were still very much taboo, especially out in the land of forests and plantations. Today, more than 160 people who were on death row have been proved innocent and released. Myers heard popping sounds, and he found McMillian standing over the victim with a gun in his hand. And it was too hard in light of the evidence of his innocence to show this court that he should never have been here in the first place.. He had lost his logging business and sold car parts until he became too ill to work. It was too easy for one person to come into court and frame a man for a murder he didnt commit. [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. It tells the true story of Walter McMillian, who gets help from Bryan to appeal his murder conviction. Birthdate: estimated between 1837 and 1897. According to Myers, reinstated in 1975, the majority of Alabama death row inmates have been black, although when, that the practice is occurring. In November 1992, he told CBS News 60 Minutes that Alabama was preparing to execute the wrong. [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. During their first year together, they almost starved, with Walter working as a field hand for $14 per week. For months, the police could not solve this case. He filed civil lawsuits against state and local officials for his wrongful conviction. All he could do was sit there and listen as three witnesses for the prosecution lied in their testimonies. Walter McMillian was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. This set off a chain of events that changed Mr. McMillians life forever. He also filed civil lawsuits for his sentencing to death row. Walters sense of humor hadnt failed him despite his six years on death row. What seemed to bring him attention is that hed had an affair with a married white woman. Appellant told him that "I had a lovely family to be destroyed if I . Not at all.. [emailprotected], Mr. McMillians testimony specifically addressed the failure to provide adequate legal help to people in prison and on death row. The trial began on August 15, 1988. Walter with friends and Stevenson The McMillian family was known to be a "large, tight-knit family" made up Walter, his wife, Minnie, and five children. 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. "[18], From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. The trial lasted only a day and a half. Walter McMillian (1941 - 2013) . 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. She supports and cares for her five children during Walter's incarceration. 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. Walter McMillian, left, and Bryan Stevenson, right (Photo from the Equal Justice Initiative) In 1986, an 18-year-old White woman named Ronda Morrison was murdered at Jackson Cleaners in Monroeville, Alabama. Genealogy for Walter Miles McMillian (1850 - 1922) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. 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. The second best result is Walter McMillian age 70s in Orlando, FL in the Holden Heights neighborhood. Despite having various witnesses on his side, it seemed useless. McMillian already had a target on his back from his affair with Karen Kelly, and the police had that target in their sights. Struggling with distance learning? Birthplace: GA, United States. Throughout the case, Stevenson battles political and legal maneuverings, as well as overt and institutional racism, all in the name of fighting for . It was truly heart wrenching that all of the people were apart of the crime were not criminally charged nor punished, yet the only person who was punished was the innocent man. Just Mercy is a 2019 American biographical legal drama film co-written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson, Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, and Brie Larson.It explores the work of young defense attorney Bryan Stevenson who represents poor people on death row in the South. This story is incredibly heartbreaking and sadly not very uncommon. The suspect, who was from a prominent family then fled town. I have plenty of friends who are sentenced 10 or 20 years in jail and they feel doomed as soon as the judge slams the gavel. Mr. McMillian was with his family 11 miles away from the dry cleaning store where Ms. Morrison was murdered at the time of the crime. A white man accused of crimes in another county was pressured by police and ultimately made false statements accusing Mr. McMillian of murdering Ms. Morrison. Alabama Releases Man Held on Death Row for Six Years, Walter McMillian's Statement to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Wrongfully Convicted Man Recalls Death Row, 122 Commerce Street Montgomery, AL 36104 In 1998, he joined other survivors at a national conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty attended by more than 1,000 lawyers, law students, professors, and criminal justice reform advocates. 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][14], McMillian's "appellate lawyers discovered that prosecutors had withheld evidence and that the state's star witnesses had lied. "[5] This practice, called judicial override, allows "elected trial judges to override jury verdicts of life and impose death sentences." The . He became uncharacteristically emotional. There are numerous examples of this shown throughout the book. The only reason Im here is because I had been messing around with a white lady, he told the New York Times from death row. Stevenson was in his 20s and eager to take on the case, even though the unfortunately named judge discouraged him from doing so. Just one grandparent can lead you to many discoveries. They were close their community and church. Walter McMillian photographed outside of his home surrounded by family and friends. McMillian claims innocence, but in 1988 he is convicted by a jury of young Morrison's murder. / Bryan Stevenson speaks with reporters after oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. To him and his family, the money he got from picking cotton was worth a lot more than an education. "[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. Not to mention, the way the author starts the article is genius. He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. They had met as teenagers. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. How Racism, Police Incompetence, And Lying Witnesses Put Walter McMillian On Death Row For Six Years. Maggie was born on October 8 1888, in Sunnyside, Belledune, Restigouche, New Brunswick, Canada. 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 . I'm going to put twelve people on a jury who are going to find your goddamn black ass guilty. 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 Morrison, who was white, had been bludgeoned, strangled and shot three times. McMillian was shocked and absolutely saddened to hear about it. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001. Either way, its a shame that not only our officers, but our prosecutors, which I believe work closely with the police department (at least more than defense attorneys), have also been shown to be racially biased. He died on September 11, 2013. Home; . Testimony of the trial lasted a day and a half. He had about half a dozen of his friends and family members testifying that they were with him at the time of the crime. Simplified. Select this result to view Walter McMillian's phone number, address, and more. And he had an alibi: He was at a family fish fry the morning Ronda Morrison was murdered. The real-life Walter McMillian (left) and lawyer Bryan Stevenson. We would often talk about situations and people connected to the case that, for all the damage they had caused, had still made us laugh at their absurdity. About $35 was missing. But when the word got out about their affair, he grew worried. While McMillian did receive an undisclosed amount of compensation, it was less than he had hoped for. McMillian." LitCharts Teacher Editions. [3] He died on September 11, 2013. 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. Plus, McMillian didnt fit the profile of a murderer: He had no prior felony convictions, just one misdemeanor for getting dragged into a bar fight years earlier. We have a choice. The nearly all-white jury convicted Mr. McMillian of capital murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. He knew it, his family knew it, and his friends knew it. . [6] McMillian's attorney then filed a motion to dismiss all charges. Thirty-six of the nearly two hundred convicts on death row are there because of override."[5]. He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife. The fact that this man was innocent, and everyone knew, he was still guilty. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. This story is just one of the many injustices colored people must experience. Mr. McMillian was held on death row prior to being convicted and sentenced to death. Stevenson tries to hasten, rushes to the courthouse to pick up the 35-page ruling in which the judge nullifies, Before a new trial can be scheduled, Stevenson files a motion to have all of, The morning of the hearing, Stevenson tells, A camera crew came to the U.S. to interview EJI and people theyd represented, including. [2] Stevenson featured this early case of his career in a TED talk and in his memoir Just Mercy (2014). We encourage you to research and examine these . Its narrative backbone is the story of Walter McMillian, whom Stevenson began representing in the late 1980s when he was on death row for killing a young white woman in Monroeville, Ala., the . I believe there are other people under sentence of death who like me are not guilty.. According to the Equal Justice Initiative of Montgomery, Alabama, "No capital sentencing procedure in the United States has come under more criticism as unreliable, unpredictable, and arbitrary" than the judge override. McMillian was accused of murdering an 18-year-old girl and was put on death row. Wonder how many of them were white, if any minorities were serving at all. Because the case generated extraordinary publicity in Monroe County, where the white population was 60 percent, the trial was moved to Baldwin County, where whites made up 86 percent of the population. 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. His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. Walter "Johnny D." McMillian (October 27, 1941 - September 11, 2013) was an African American pulpwood worker from Monroeville, Alabama, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. EP.32 The case of Walter McMillian-New way of looking at the death penalty Walter "Johnny D." McMillian (October 27, 1941 - September 11, 2013)[1] was an African-American pulpwood worker from Monroeville, Alabama, who was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. In the case Walter McMillian v. State proceedings it was recorded that Myers identified Larry Ikner, and Thomas Tate, as the law enforcement officers. October 10, 1995. His conviction was wrong Walter McMillian was among the first exonerees from death row in the modern era. I find it very heartbreaking that even with inconsistencies and testimonies in favor of him, that he was still condemned because of the way he looked. Starting with, ordinary life lets the reader know that this could happen to anyone of color. They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. 's office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) had "pressured [Myers] into lying about Mr. I don't give a damn what your people say either. With few ordinary comforts in his life, the attention of women was something Walter did not easily resist.. After Mr. McMillians release in 1993, he worked hard to educate people about the death penalty, sharing his experiences with students, community groups, and elected officials across the country. 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