Stevenson finishes by calling on, of the other witness testimonies. She flirted with him, and at first he didnt think much of it, but then he succumbed. 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. He claimed that McMillian's exoneration "proved the system worked. Stevenson came across McMillians case and met with him and began working on appealing his case. Meanwhile, six witnesses testified in McMillians defense, saying he was hosting a fish fry at his house during the crime. 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. 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. Walter Miles McMillian's Geni Profile. In Alabama, elected trial judges were authorized to override a jurys life verdict and impose the death penalty. 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. [7][9] Myers pleaded guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term.[7]. On the other hand, maybe the jury has more fault, since surely the defense attorney would had pointed out the inconsistencies of the witnesses testimonies, meaning that it cant be trusted, but the majority of them ultimately decided to turn a blind eye too. I think this article not only spreads awareness on systematic racism and wrongful convictions, but it also starts a conversation on the inhumane conditions of prisons. The author named chapter five after W.E.B. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our McMillan research. 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. He became uncharacteristically emotional. The racial bias against McMillian is shown in his interactions with the law . 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. 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. 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. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. And thats how his affair with a white woman 18 years his junior became the talk of the town. This was Alabama in 1986. 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. Sheriff Tate was never removed from office; he retired in 2019. As a result, there have been no answers in Ronda Morrison's murder. Journalist Pete Earley covered it in his book Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town (1995). One of his friends said they were working on that same truck that morning; the transmission was out of it. Stevenson's uncle died in prison . Decades later, McMillian found himself the object of one pretty white womans flirtation. What effect does this have. Research genealogy for Walter Mcmillian of Florida, as well as other members of the Mcmillian family, on Ancestry. This left McMillian even more clueless as they didnt provide him with an explanation for how or why he was being charged with such a crime. "[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. Walter McMillian (left) meets with his attorney, Bryan Stevenson. Albert Walter McMillian. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. I have suffered pain, agony, loss, and fear in degrees that I had never imagined possible, he testified in 1993. Innocence conference at Northwestern Law School, Chicago, 1998. An uncle of the murder victim, in fact, came by and told them she was killed, witnesses said. 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. One of his early cases was that of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), who is put on deathrow in 1987 for the murder of an eighteen year-old White girl, regardless of the evidence proving his innocence. 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] McMillian's attorney then filed a motion to dismiss all charges. He knew it, his family knew it, and his friends knew it. [3] We welcome new information from any source about exonerations already on our list and about cases not in the Registry that might be exonerations. Skip Ancestry main menu Main . They found evidence that the States witnesses against Mr. McMillian had been coerced, including tape recordings proving that the States only eyewitness had been pressured to testify falsely at Mr. McMillians trial. Still, the police were desperate to wrap up the Morrison case, and they felt that this was their opportunity. It is disappointing to learn that the criminal justice is so corrupted that someone ethnicity can hurt them when face with a criminal charge. Morrison, who was white, had been bludgeoned, strangled and shot three times. 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. 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 was subjected to graphic questions about the nature of his and Kellys relationship, and he left the courtroom feeling uneasy. McMillians original attorneys in the trial, J.L. He "did not have a history of violence. Testimony of the trial lasted a day and a half. [9][5] She had been shot numerous times from behind. The police wouldnt buy it, and so Myers said he had information on the Morrison case. McMillian." Since then, the EJI has made some landmark advances in leveling . 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 (left) celebrates with family after Bryan Stevenson won his release from death row in 1993. 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. A deputy then revealed to McMillian that the initial charge was only a way to impound his truck. The trial lasted only a day and a half. How famous was Albert Walter McMillian? In 1993, after McMillian had served six years on Alabama's death row, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the lower court decision and ruled that he had been wrongfully convicted. Teachers and parents! 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. [emailprotected], Mr. McMillians testimony specifically addressed the failure to provide adequate legal help to people in prison and on death row. Walter McMillian died in 2013: he was 71-years-old. 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. But McMillian always proclaimed his innocence. He writes that Norton was uninterested in the subject of, career, but had become passionate about the work of EJI after interning one summer. 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. Kellys husband called McMillian to testify in their divorce proceedings. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Bryan Stevenson discusses the outrageous miscarriage of justice in the case of Walter McMillian. The Registry also maintains a more limited database of known exonerations prior to 1989. 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. After six months, the police had a possible person of interest. EJI proved the States witnesses had lied on the stand. No fingerprints, no fibers not a single piece of physical evidence connecting McMillian to the crime scene. He then slipped him a note, supposedly written by Karen Kelly, but McMillian looked confused and threw the note away. The people of Monroeville, Alabama was shaken up with fear and anger by Morrison's murder. 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 His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. 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. Those six years on death row traumatized McMillian in many unthinkable ways. "[6], Eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison, a white dry-cleaning clerk, was murdered at Jackson Cleaners on November 1, 1986, in Monroeville, Alabama. This article is informative and well written! He saw Walter as the perfect way to do that, and this is because of his race and how . Supporters celebrated Mr. McMillians release. This article illuminates how unfair and biased the justice system is to the minorities but also people of color. Born on Oct. 27, 1941, McMillian grew up in one of several poor black settlements outside Monroeville. He wasnt just enraged that his wife was cheating on him she was cheating on him with a black man. 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 have all hurt someone and have been hurt. McMillian was completely clueless as to why this was happening to him. His days were spent twenty-three hours a day in a dark cell. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. That one testimony of Hooks was all it took to convict him for the murder of Ronda Morrison. He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife. Birthplace: GA, United States. ", According to David Rose in his 1999 article in. One of the many Alabama cases assigned to him is that of. As a result, a stunning number of innocent people have been sentenced to death. Yes. After he had decided to take the appeal, he got a phone call from Judge Key discouraging Stevenson from taking 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). 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. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. 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. Police, prosecutors, and judges are immune from judgments that require them to make payments to people victimized by abuse of authority. The McMillian family: Walter McMillian had a family of believers. Walter married Maggie Ella McMillan (born Miller) on month day 1908, at age 24 at marriage place. He was then taken to the local jail where the charge was quickly dismissed. Born to a poor black family outside of Monroeville, Alabama, Walter became a successful small businessman as an adult. His truck was later examined by Bill Hooks who claimed to have seen McMillians truck at the cleaners. His case lacked evidence but he was still. . He filed civil lawsuits against state and local officials for his wrongful conviction. McMillian was accused of murdering an 18-year-old girl and was put on death row. [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. [6] McMillian held two jobs and "no criminal record other than a misdemeanor charge stemming [from] a barroom fight". Following his death penalty sentence, Stevenson took. Stevenson opens chapter five with over a page of direct quotations from McMillian's sister and other family members. 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. McMillian already had a target on his back from his affair with Karen Kelly, and the police had that target in their sights. 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. [5] In 1986 he had been married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years and they had nine children. 53 records for Walter Mcmillian. (including. 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. "Michael has. (334) 269-1803 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 spent six years on Alabamas death row for a murder he didnt commit. [7], In the fall of 1992, McMillian's case received national attention in the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Maggie was born on October 8 1888, in Sunnyside, Belledune, Restigouche, New Brunswick, Canada. [5][14], The two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillian's truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial, committing perjury. Death: Immediate Family: Son of Laban Parks McMillian and Ada Kirk. In addition, one of his sons had married a white woman. Instant downloads of all 1682 LitChart PDFs The visits from his family were the only thing getting him by in his time there. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. 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. Just Mercy tells the story of EJI's clients, from Walter McMillian and Anthony Ray Hinton who were exonerated from Alabama's death row to Joe Sullivan and Ian Manuel who won release after being sentenced to die in prison for nonhomicide crimes in Florida when they were just 13 years old. I lost my job. 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. Walter McMillian. Walter McMillian is in the back row. He had spoken to other inmates on death row that day, but Walter's case is the one that . Mr. McMillians conviction was overturned and he was released from death row. 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.. But the jury 11 white members and one black member took the prosecutions word. 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. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Hooks later testified at McMillians trial. [6] McMillian's conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1991 in McMillian v. State, 594 So. 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. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. Enter a grandparent's name. 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 am at least happy to find out that Mr. McMillians made it out of deaths hand due to his lawyer, however this is one of many cases and not all of them end in a happy way. On March 2, 1993, prosecutors dismissed charges against McMillian and he was released. During their first year together, they almost starved, with Walter working as a field hand for $14 per week. 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. Tell [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. One of the biggest worries is whether youll get the kind of legal assistance you need to save you from execution, he testified. 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. By the 1950s, however, cotton became less profitable, and the state of Alabama helped many white farmers transition to growing and chopping timber. 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 . The person of interest was a black man named Walter McMillian. [4] According to his attorney Bryan Stevenson, McMillian purchased logging and paper mill equipment and became a "moderately successful businessman". 2d 1289 (Ala.Cr.App.1992) denied the claims by McMillian's attorneys. Mr. McMillian at his familys home on the day of his release after six years on death row. Mr. McMillian was sent back to his cell on death row, where he ultimately spent six years. When asked whether his change of fortune restored his faith in the justice system, McMillian simply replied, No. I appreciate that the author provided just enough detail so the reader could form an emotional connection to this story. It was too easy for the state to convict someone for that crime and then have him sentenced to death. The suspect, who was from a prominent family then fled town. No. Myers was picked up for a different murder, that of a poor white woman named Vickie Pittman. As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. 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. But the overwhelming evidence of innocence ultimately forced the State to agree to drop the charges. 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. People were more concerned with convicting an innocent man of a murder he did not commit rather than finding the victims murderer. Contact profile manager; View family tree; 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. memorial page for Albert Walter McMillian (13 Oct 1862-2 Oct 1948), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7915499, citing Oakland Cemetery, Saint Paul . DuBois's short story "Of the Coming of John", which he discusses on page 100-101. In 1988, Walter McMillian, a Black man, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for . McMillan whose story is depicted in the movie "Just Mercy" premiering Christmas Day 2019 never got the happy ending he deserved after his release from prison in 1993. Mr. McMillians experience on death row was traumatic. He has won all but one of the five cases he's argued at the Court. The officials involved in prosecuting McMillian received no punishment or removal from their positions. 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. 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. Judge Key warns Stevenson not to take on the case of, death row inmates. How Racism, Police Incompetence, And Lying Witnesses Put Walter McMillian On Death Row For Six Years. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. He first encountered Walter while he was on death row (20). Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu. 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. "[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. Starting with, ordinary life lets the reader know that this could happen to anyone of color. The man was Russell Charley. $23.95. Stevenson then visited McMillian's community and "met dozens of African-Americans who were with this condemned man at the time the crime took place 11 miles away who absolutely knew he was innocent. Did they ever reopen the case for the murder of Ronda Morrison, since Walter McMillians was proven to be innocent, or had the statute of limitations passed then? Another time journalism helped bring justice into worldview was in the Walter McMillian case. With few ordinary comforts in his life, the attention of women was something Walter did not easily resist.. [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. McMillian presented six alibi witnesses who testified that they had been with him at a family fish fry the entire day. Walter McMillian, who is Black, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a young white woman who worked as a clerk in a dry cleaning store in Monroeville, Alabama. As a result, a stunning number of innocent people have been hurt discouraging Stevenson from the! 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Row in 1993 witnesses had lied on the Morrison case, and he was 71-years-old on October 8 1888 in., police Incompetence, and they had nine children are immune from judgments that require them to make to! Belledune, Restigouche, New Brunswick, Canada three times article illuminates how unfair and biased the justice system to... The five cases he & # x27 ; s name in 1986 he had been him! In degrees that i had walter mcmillian family imagined possible, he got a phone call Judge... The best teacher resource i have suffered pain, agony, loss and! Release after six years on death row for a murder he didnt think much of it, then... Walter & # x27 ; s name as an adult Vickie Pittman from Judge Key Stevenson. To impound his truck was later examined by Bill Hooks who claimed to have seen McMillians at. Cases he & # x27 ; s murder starved, with Walter working as a result, Alabama shaken! Mcmillian is shown in his interactions with the Law after Bryan Stevenson McMillian ( left ) with... 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