Walter McMillian is in the back row. 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. Subsequently, McMillian settled with other officials for an undisclosed amount. [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. 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. In the 1988 trial, under a controversial Alabama doctrine called "judicial override", the judge imposed the death penalty, although the jury had voted for a sentence of life imprisonment. All NRE reports represent a moment in time. [7][14], McMillian's "appellate lawyers discovered that prosecutors had withheld evidence and that the state's star witnesses had lied. Husband of Libbie Wood. Walter often sought better work to support his family. It was pointed out that Monroeville, Alabama, was "best known as the home of Harper Lee, whose To Kill a Mockingbird told a painful story of race and justice in the small-town Jim Crow South. The person of interest was a black man named Walter McMillian. Walter McMillian worked hard providing for his wife and their three children. I cant imagine how infuriating it must be to experience something like this. Struggling with distance learning? This article is informative and well written! 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? Walter McMillian photographed outside of his home surrounded by family and friends. When he visited McMillian in prison,[10][16][Notes 4][17] McMillian maintained his innocence. 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. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. They had 2 children: Isabella Mae McMillan and one other child. 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). Its really infuriating that the people involved received no backlash. The visits from his family were the only thing getting him by in his time there. Like Walter, she is from the poor black community just outside of Monroeville. Walter was an unlikely suspect in Ronda's murder. A very public divorce between this woman and her husband pulled Mr. McMillian into the limelight and he soon went from someone having an interracial affair to someone thought to be capable of murder. 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. While McMillian did receive an undisclosed amount of compensation, it was less than he had hoped for. They threatened me for six years. The crime sent shock waves of fear and anger through the small community. They had met as teenagers. Find Walter Mcmillian's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. HBOWalter McMillian (left) meets with his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. He died on September 11, 2013. The author named chapter five after W.E.B. He saw Walter as the perfect way to do that, and this is because of his race and how . Mr. McMillian was sent back to his cell on death row, where he ultimately spent six years. It was clear that Myers and McMillian didnt know each other; Myers word was the sole evidence connecting McMillian to the crime. The prosecution presented their three witnesses: Myers and the two men who said they saw McMillians low-rider truck outside the dry cleaners on the morning of the murder. McMillian was looking at two options for his sentence: death by electrocution, or life in prison. -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. That one testimony of Hooks was all it took to convict him for the murder of Ronda Morrison. The story of Walter McMillian in Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is the one that I found the most intriguing. As Bryan Stevenson, McMillians future lawyer, wrote in his memoir Just Mercy, Tree work is notoriously demanding and dangerous. The fact that this man was innocent, and everyone knew, he was still guilty. Myers had pled guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term. But as much as his family fought against the system, the system had a way of taking hold. Born to a poor black family outside of Monroeville, Alabama, Walter became a successful small businessman as an adult. 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. [19] Subsequently, McMillian settled out of court with other officials for an undisclosed amount. WRONGFUL CONVICTION 2 In Monroeville, Alabama November 1, 1986, a white woman by the name of Ronda Morrison was murdered. Each testimony had inconsistencies in their stories, but that did not matter. "[9][Notes 6][3][12] In pursuing those claims, the attorneys obtained the original recording of Myers' confession. Yes. Stevenson came across McMillians case and met with him and began working on appealing his case. Walter was born on October 27, 1941 and passed away on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. . Although there are still injustices for colored people in todays society, it Definitely has gotten better and Im glad that were working towards that. Still, the police were desperate to wrap up the Morrison case, and they felt that this was their opportunity. It was appealed to the United States Supreme Court,[19] which ruled against McMillian, holding that a county sheriff could not be sued for monetary damages. List of wrongful convictions in the United States, "Death of justice in Alabama: Brian Baldwin was condemned to the electric chair by a racist travesty", "Double Jeopardy: In Alabama, a judge can override a jury that spares a murderer from the death penalty", "Alabama Releases Man Held On Death Row for Six Years", Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, "An Alabama Sheriff, a Mystery Check and a Blogger Who Cried Foul", "Alabama frees black man on death row for 6 years - Walter McMillan", "One Lawyer's Fight For Young Blacks And 'Just Mercy', Jamie Foxx in Talks to Join Michael B. Jordan in Legal Drama 'Just Mercy', Equal Justice Initiative - Walter McMillian, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walter_McMillian&oldid=1134436044, Overturned convictions in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 January 2023, at 17:56. I have survived these six long years, but I am a different man. He explained the horror of seeing seven other men executed during his time at Alabamas Holman Prison: I experienced the executions with the greatest pain and with enormous fear about whether this would happen to me. During the closing argument of the trial, the state emphasized the victim's beauty and her life, as well as the brutality of her murder. 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. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. Mr. McMillian at his familys home on the day of his release after six years on death row. Grandfather. He writes that Norton was uninterested in the subject of, career, but had become passionate about the work of EJI after interning one summer. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. 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. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Walter McMillian (left) and Bryan Stevenson after McMillians conviction was overturned in 1993. 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. After, Stevenson agrees to work with the CBS program 60 Minutes to produce a story about, an innocent man in prison until the real murderer is found. Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures. The trial lasted only a day and a half. Their central case is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an independent pulpwood worker and family man known to most as Johnny D. He . "[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. He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. His trial start on Aug. 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. Judge Robert E. Lee Key overrode the jurys sentence of life imprisonment and sentenced Mr. McMillian to death by electrocution. It is a miracle that Mr. Stevenson reviewed Mr. McMillans case, without his review, an innocent man would been put to death due to racial discrimination. Starting with, ordinary life lets the reader know that this could happen to anyone of color. 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. For months, the police could not solve this case. Bryan Stevenson stands in 1993 with Walter McMillan, a man wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death row for six years for the murder of an 18-year-old dry cleaning store clerk in Monroeville, Ala. Stevenson successfully argued that Stevenson was with family 11 miles away at the time of the crime, that witnesses had lied on the stand, and that the prosecution had illegally suppressed . In his police interview, he made up all sorts of wild stories, like how the sheriff of a nearby county murdered Pittman. [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. There was a new county sheriff, and people were whispering about his incompetence. As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. And this case had given him lots of fodder. How famous was Albert Walter McMillian? Family History Search. It was the last state in the U.S. to overturn laws banning interracial marriage but that wouldnt happen for another 14 years. Known to his friends and family as Johnny D, Mr. McMillian spent 15 harrowing and tortuous months on Alabamas death row before trial. Walter McMillian with his family after his release from prison. I lost my job. What seemed to bring him attention is that hed had an affair with a married white woman. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. A week later, prosecutors dismissed the charges. Just one grandparent can lead you to many discoveries. It was too easy for the state to convict someone for that crime and then have him sentenced to death. Further investigation revealed that McMillians 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. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Jamie Foxx portrays McMillian and Michael B. Jordan stars as Stevenson. He first encountered Walter while he was on death row (20). I am also worried about others. Were going to keep all you niggers from running around with these white girls. [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. "[6] He was held there, pre-trial, for 15 months. Hooks later testified at McMillians trial. [14] Key remarked that "McMillian deserved to be executed for the brutal killing of a young lady in the first full flower of adulthood. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. "[10][11], On December 11, 1987, Walter McMillian and Ralph Bernard Myers, a career criminal,[13] were jointly indicted. EJI proved the States witnesses had lied on the stand. 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. Supporters celebrated Mr. McMillians release. [6] McMillian held two jobs and "no criminal record other than a misdemeanor charge stemming [from] a barroom fight". McMillian and his wife, Minnie, met when when they were teenagers and married after she became pregnant in 1962. Innocence conference at Northwestern Law School, Chicago, 1998. 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. Walter McMillians post-conviction ordeal is featured in the film. The jury recommended a life in prison, but judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr. overrode their recommendation and imposed the death penalty. I feel sick about the six years that [McMillian] has spent in prison and the part I played in keeping him there. This was Alabama in 1986. He picked cotton with his family, went to the local colored school for a couple of years, and then went back to picking cotton at around age eight or nine. "[6], Eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison, a white dry-cleaning clerk, was murdered at Jackson Cleaners on November 1, 1986, in Monroeville, Alabama. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. He had all the evidence and witnesses he could and still knowing in the end it was useless and wouldnt help him for his case is sad. A 60 Minutes segment and other national press coverage about his case led to other exonerations. We are all broken by something. But McMillian always proclaimed his innocence. The racial bias against McMillian is shown in his interactions with the law . I don't give a damn what your people say either. The website is updated daily, frequently with exonerations that occurred in the past. The author did a great job about explaining the life of Mr. McMillians and the troubles he experienced due to the fact of being wrongly convicted for a crime he didnt commit. In November 1992, he told CBS News 60 Minutes that Alabama was preparing to execute the wrong. 's office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) had "pressured [Myers] into lying about Mr. He was then taken to the local jail where the charge was quickly dismissed. McMillian was completely clueless as to why this was happening to him. For the first time in six years, Walter McMillian was a free man. Seven months passed and every one of the polices leads went nowhere. Bryan, who was the attorney on Walter's case, was young and just starting his career. In 1988, Walter McMillian, a Black man, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for . He had lost his logging business and sold car parts until he became too ill to work. 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. Walter McMillian spent six years on Alabamas death row for a murder he didnt commit. This story is just one of the many injustices colored people must experience. 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. 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. He was a family friend, and the rumor was that hed been lynched for dating a white woman. The following week, on March 2, Circuit Court Judge Pamela W. Baschab ruled on the motion, dismissing all charges against McMillian. This article illuminates how unfair and biased the justice system is to the minorities but also people of color. But the overwhelming evidence of innocence ultimately forced the State to agree to drop the charges. [5] In 1986 he had been married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years and they had nine children. But when the word got out about their affair, he grew worried. McMillian, was charged with first degree murder, the murder of a very well known white girl in the community. Stevenson, now 60, continues his social justice work in Alabama. The petition also alleged that the state of Alabama "had violated his constitutional rights by withholding exculpatory and impeachment information". Police could not solve the crime. Thirty-six of the nearly two hundred convicts on death row are there because of override."[5]. Stevenson presented the newfound evidence at hearings and appeals before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. McMillian. Sponsored by Ancestry. 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. 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. She was shot three times in the back, and it looked like money had been taken from the cash register. 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. When Minnie became pregnant in 1962, they were married. When Walter McMillian was a 12-year-old black boy in Monroe County, Alabama where Harper Lee set To Kill a Mockingbird a bullet-riddled black man was found hanging from a tree in nearby Vredenburgh. With few ordinary comforts in his life, the attention of women was something Walter did not easily resist.. 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