"I don't want to call it that. Lessons to Learn"I think everybody needs to understand what happened because what happened today could happen tomorrow if we don't learn some lessons from this," said his lawyer, Bryan Stevenson.
Walter McMillian walked out of a courtroom here today a free man after prosecutors conceded that he had spent six years on Alabama's Death Row because of perjured testimony and evidence withheld from his lawyers.Whether he was also put there for being a black man who violated the racial and sexual taboos of the small-town South is only one of the issues swirling around a case that has evoked not only distinctly Southern but also far broader questions of race and justice.Almost everything about Mr. McMillian's conviction in 1988 for the shooting death of an 18-year-old white female store clerk now seems extraordinary.
He had been jailed since then and was sentenced to death on Sept. 19, 1988. There, Mr. Myers said, he witnessed the murder.
McMillian said he was at home. Born to a poor, white, Southern family, Myers suffers from trauma-related psychological issues.
The key prosecution witness at McMillian's 1988 trial was Ralph Bernard Myers, who later recanted his story that he saw McMillian at the murder scene. A horrible incident. Myers has said that law officers prodded him into accusing Mr. McMillian.
Mr. McMillian, who is married with three children from his current marriage and has nine children altogether, was dating a white woman named Karen Kelly. McMillian said he was at home. Because of the death sentence, Mr. McMillian's case was vigorously appealed, and eventually overturned. Roots of SuspicionBoth Mr. McMillian and his lawyer at the original trial, J. L. Chestnut, contended that Mr. McMillian's relationships along had made him a suspect.
Prosecutors conceded he was wrongly convicted. Another criminal suspect testified that he saw Mr. McMillian's "low rider" truck near the cleaner's, and a third man implicated Mr. McMillian.Mr. McMillian.
Ralph Myers is the man whose false accusation sends Walter to death row. Considered a low-life in Monroeville, Myers uses
There are other folks in prison who don't have the money or the resources or the good fortune to have folks come in and help them.
"It's clear he had nothing to do with this crime. Ralph Myers is the man whose false accusation sends Walter to death row. His conviction was largely based on the testimony of career criminal Ralph Myers, a white man who had been arrested in connection with a murder in nearby Escambia County. Judge Key, for two decades the local circuit court judge, moved the trial from Monroe County, which is 40 percent black, to Baldwin County, which is only 13 percent black.Mr. Outside they unfurled a makeshift banner, using his nickname, that read, "Welcome Home Johnnie D. God Never Fails."Mr. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Mr. Stevenson also turned up statements from the time of the trial in which four doctors at a forensic hospital said Mr. Myers told them he was being pressured by law officers to lie about Mr. McMillian.None of that material was turned over to the defense at the time, as required. McMillian was charged with a two-count indictment "for the offense of murder made capital because it was committed during a robbery in the first degree" and the jury recommended a life sentence. "It was too easy for one person to come into court and frame a man for a murder he didn't commit. After a week of interrogation by the police, Mr. Myers accused Mr. McMillian, a pulpwood worker, as Ms. Morrison's killer.Mr. Following a week of being interrogated by the police Finally, the lawyer found that Mr. McMillian's truck was not turned into the low rider identified by his accusers until well after the murder.After turning down four appeals, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals threw out Mr. McMillian's conviction last week 5 to 0, leading to today's hearing. He got none during the 10-minute hearing.Stevenson said it was "too easy" to frame McMillian, and "too hard" to convince the court of his innocence.The key prosecution witness at McMillian's 1988 trial was Ralph Bernard Myers, who later recanted his story that he saw McMillian at the murder scene. It was too easy for the state to convict someone for that crime and then have him sentenced to death. He avoided the death penalty by testifying against McMillian.Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. McMillian was convicted after a one-and-a-half-day trial on the testimony of three witnesses. Stevenson, who handles death row cases for the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center in Montomgery, said only the death sentence had allowed Mr.McMillian to receive adequate representation. All three prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony.Mr. But Judge Key overruled the jury and condemned Mr. McMillian to die in the electric chair.
On December 11, 1987, Walter McMillian and Ralph Bernard Myers, a career criminal, were jointly indicted. Not at all."Mr.
McMillian was arrested, and in an extraordinary move, was immediately sent to Alabama's Death Row, in Holman State Prison, Atmore, which is usually reserved for convicted murderers awaiting execution.