They were close their community and church. He "did not have a history of violence. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. 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. LitCharts Teacher Editions. It tells the true story of Walter McMillian, who gets help from Bryan to appeal his murder conviction. I ought to take you off and hang you like we done that nigger in Mobile. The following week, on March 2, Circuit Court Judge Pamela W. Baschab ruled on the motion, dismissing all charges against McMillian. He had lost his logging business and sold car parts until he became too ill to work. McMillian, was charged with first degree murder, the murder of a very well known white girl in the community. "[18], From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. The Morrison case had generated considerable publicity in Monroe County, which was 40 percent black, and so Walter McMillians trial was moved down south to Baldwin County which was 86 percent white. Birthdate: estimated between 1837 and 1897. His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. McMillian, who had "no prior felony convictions",[12] was arrested by newly elected Sheriff Tom Tate, who was under pressure to find a suspect. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Their central case is that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an independent pulpwood worker and family man known to most as Johnny D. He . He had about half a dozen of his friends and family members testifying that they were with him at the time of the crime. Stevenson finishes by calling on, of the other witness testimonies. They put me on death row for six years! He was subjected to graphic questions about the nature of his and Kellys relationship, and he left the courtroom feeling uneasy. His truck was later examined by Bill Hooks who claimed to have seen McMillians truck at the cleaners. 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. McMillian was completely clueless as to why this was happening to him. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. In 1988, Bryan Stevenson met Walter McMillian and began working to appeal his conviction and death sentence. Police, prosecutors, and judges are immune from judgments that require them to make payments to people victimized by abuse of authority. Still, the police were desperate to wrap up the Morrison case, and they felt that this was their opportunity. Walter McMillian photographed outside of his home surrounded by family and friends. [14] Key remarked that "McMillian deserved to be executed for the brutal killing of a young lady in the first full flower of adulthood. Walter McMillian passed away on September 11, 2013.7. [4] According to his attorney Bryan Stevenson, McMillian purchased logging and paper mill equipment and became a "moderately successful businessman". Bryan, who was the attorney on Walter's case, was young and just starting his career. The petition also alleged that the state of Alabama "had violated his constitutional rights by withholding exculpatory and impeachment information". HBOWalter McMillian (left) meets with his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. Walter McMillian was married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years. He died on September 11, 2013. McMillian recalls his time there as a terrible experience. As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. 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. This set off a chain of events that changed Mr. McMillians life forever. [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. Karen confirms that Myers never met, Stevenson describes the situation preceding, The hearing begins. We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. Key had retired by 1993, During the 1993 appeal it was revealed that, "Two mechanics, Willie Nettles and Clay Kast, testified that they had modified the appellant's truck to convert it to a low-rider and that they did not do this work until several months after the commission of the crime at Jackson Cleaners. . (334) 269-1803 Its really infuriating that the people involved received no backlash. On November 1, 1986, the body of 18-year-old part-time clerk Ronda Morrison was found under a rack of clothing at Jackson Cleaners in Monroeville, Alabama. The jury recommended a life sentence, but on September 19, 1988, the judge overrode the jurys recommendation and imposed the death penalty. He knew it, his family knew it, and his friends knew it. he sees the report about EJI for the first time. Within weeks, McMillian was transferred to a maximum-security state prison in Atmore, Alabama. Kellys husband called McMillian to testify in their divorce proceedings. Police were skeptical that Myers and McMillian were really accomplices, and so they conducted an experiment. Grandmother . Despite having various witnesses on his side, it seemed useless. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. All NRE reports represent a moment in time. Little did he know that the murder of Ronda Morrison would impact his life in a major way later on.2, On June 7, 1987 at around 11:00 a.m, McMillian was peacefully driving down Route 84. Stevenson recounts the story Myers gave during. Before Walter McMillian was released from death row. [6] However, Chapman did not agree that there had been a "deliberate effort to frame Mr. [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]. He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife. Stevenson was in his 20s and eager to take on the case, even though the unfortunately named judge discouraged him from doing so. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Mr. McMillian was held on death row prior to being convicted and sentenced to death. Bryan Stevenson took on Mr. McMillians case in postconviction. Teachers and parents! Like Walter, she is from the poor black community just outside of Monroeville. Mr. McMillians experience on death row was traumatic. Genealogy for Walter Miles McMillian (1850 - 1922) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Walter Miles McMillian's Geni Profile. Clients. 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. Bryan Stevenson discusses the outrageous miscarriage of justice in the case of Walter McMillian. 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. After six months with no leads or suspects, their attention focused on Walter McMillian. Walter McMillian, who was born on October 27, 1941, lived in a black settlement near Monroeville where he "grew up picking cotton. I lost my life. Husband of Libbie Wood. Mr. McMillian was an unlikely suspect. On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. Walter McMillian was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a young white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. Part of the evidence revealed a tape where a witness confessed to having been pressured to frame McMillan. In what The New York Times described as "an extraordinary move", McMillian "was immediately sent to Alabama's Death Row, in Holman State Prison, Atmore, which is usually reserved for convicted murderers awaiting execution. In the 1988 trial, under a controversial Alabama doctrine called "judicial override", the judge imposed the death . [9], Further investigation revealed that McMillian's truck, supposedly seen by witnesses at the scene of the crime, had not been converted to a "low-rider" until six months after the crime took place. . He writes that Norton was uninterested in the subject of, career, but had become passionate about the work of EJI after interning one summer. Find Walter Mcmillian's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. About $35 was missing. By the 1950s, however, cotton became less profitable, and the state of Alabama helped many white farmers transition to growing and chopping timber. TRIAL: Defense asked for the trial to be moved from Monroe County to Baldwin County in Alabama due to the publicity. Or we can deny our brokenness, foreswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity. We invite you to learn more about the clients featured in the book below. A new investigation was ordered. [7], In the fall of 1992, McMillian's case received national attention in the CBS News program 60 Minutes. "[13][5] There was no physical evidence implicating McMillian. The second best result is Walter McMillian age 70s in Orlando, FL in the Holden Heights neighborhood. He claimed that McMillian's exoneration "proved the system worked. 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. 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. "[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. Instant downloads of all 1682 LitChart PDFs But the overwhelming evidence of innocence ultimately forced the State to agree to drop the charges. 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. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. . A Life on Both Sides of the Ocean Mary McMillan in her early twenties Mary McMillan was born in Boston in 1880, just a few years after her parents emigrated from Scotland. [emailprotected], Mr. McMillians testimony specifically addressed the failure to provide adequate legal help to people in prison and on death row. They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. There are numerous examples of this shown throughout the book. Mr. McMillian was arrested, and in an extraordinary move, was immediately . Starting with, ordinary life lets the reader know that this could happen to anyone of color. 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.. Equal Justice InitiativeWalter McMillian spent six years on Alabamas death row for a murder he didnt commit. Stevenson presented the newfound evidence at hearings and appeals before the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. - celebrated for convicting Walter McMillian - refused to release Walter McMillian despite family members, church members, black pastors, and others pleading with him and offering their testimonies - brought Walter McMillian to death row (Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama) from the county jail on August 1st, 1987 The false testimonies claimed that they had seen McMillian near the cleaners the morning of the murder. His trial lasted only a day and a half. Contact profile manager; View family tree; memorial page for Albert Walter McMillian (13 Oct 1862-2 Oct 1948), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7915499, citing Oakland Cemetery, Saint Paul . Support The National Registry of Exonerations , The Contribution of Forensic and Expert Evidence to DNA Exoneration Cases, Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States, 2022, Government Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent, Witness Recantations: Preliminary Findings, May 2013, Exonerations in the United States: 1989 - 2012, Tell us about an Exoneration that we missed. He had spoken to other inmates on death row that day, but Walter's case is the one that . Sentimentality about Lees story grew even as the harder truths of the book took no roots. His sole criminal record was a suspended sentence for a bar fight. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. After six months, the police had a possible person of interest. His case lacked evidence but he was still. "[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. Research the McMillian family Start your family tree now. 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. Walter McMillian died in 2013: he was 71-years-old. But when the word got out about their affair, he grew worried. Walter McMillian is in the back row. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. They tortured me with the promise of execution for six years. I have suffered pain, agony, loss, and fear in degrees that I had never imagined possible, he testified in 1993. 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. 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. Walter McMillian. [9][5] She had been shot numerous times from behind. 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. Equal Justice Initiative With his conviction overturned, Walter McMillian was released from death row in 1993. Not at all.. His trial start on Aug. 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. [3] 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. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. In Alabama, elected trial judges were authorized to override a jurys life verdict and impose the death penalty. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. McMillian already had a target on his back from his affair with Karen Kelly, and the police had that target in their sights. 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. The real-life Walter McMillian (left) and lawyer Bryan Stevenson. Walter McMillian with his family after his release from prison. They had met as teenagers. 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. He wasnt just enraged that his wife was cheating on him she was cheating on him with a black man. 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. I feel sick about the six years that [McMillian] has spent in prison and the part I played in keeping him there. Stevenson, now 60, continues his social justice work in Alabama. 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 the jury 11 white members and one black member took the prosecutions word. 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. Stevenson's uncle died in prison . 's office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) had "pressured [Myers] into lying about Mr. Walter McMillian. This article illuminates how unfair and biased the justice system is to the minorities but also people of color. McMillian and his wife, Minnie, met when when they were teenagers and married after she became pregnant in 1962. That one testimony of Hooks was all it took to convict him for the murder of Ronda Morrison. 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 . The trauma Mr. McMillian experienced led to early-onset dementia. Born to a poor black family outside of Monroeville, Alabama, Walter became a successful small businessman as an adult. WRONGFUL CONVICTION 2 In Monroeville, Alabama November 1, 1986, a white woman by the name of Ronda Morrison was murdered. 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. 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. His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. To him and his family, the money he got from picking cotton was worth a lot more than an education. [7][14], McMillian's "appellate lawyers discovered that prosecutors had withheld evidence and that the state's star witnesses had lied. Born on Oct. 27, 1941, McMillian grew up in one of several poor black settlements outside Monroeville. There was no evidence proving Walter McMillians guilt, and a mountain of evidence proving his innocence and the polices and prosecutions racist complicity in his conviction. Walter McMillian worked hard providing for his wife and their three children. 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. The McMillian family: Walter McMillian had a family of believers. The upcoming film, Just Mercy, focuses on a petition for a new trial led by Walter McMillians lawyer, Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative. 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. This was adapted as an eponymous feature film, released in 2019. 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. 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. Prison and on death row for six years welcome new information from any source exonerations! 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