The trauma Mr. McMillian experienced led to early-onset dementia. 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. It was the last state in the U.S. to overturn laws banning interracial marriage but that wouldnt happen for another 14 years. October 10, 1995. The shift largely benefited white landowners and left most blacks unemployed. We all share the condition of brokenness, even if our brokenness is not equivalent [] Our shared vulnerability and imperfection nurtures and sustains our capacity for compassion. 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. His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. 2d 1253 (Ala.Cr. When he asked for an explanation, they loudly and angrily said that he was being charged with sodomy for assaulting a man. He filed civil lawsuits against state and local officials for his wrongful conviction. They knew their statements against a white mans perjured testimony didnt stand a chance.4, McMillians trial lasted two days. He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife. People were more concerned with convicting an innocent man of a murder he did not commit rather than finding the victims murderer. A student organization of St. Marys University of San Antonio, Texas, featuring scholarly research, writing, and media from students of all disciplines. Mr. McMillians conviction was overturned and he was released from death row. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Stevenson was motivated to take McMillian's case because of the use of the judge override. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. The officials involved in prosecuting McMillian received no punishment or removal from their positions. 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. By the 1950s, however, cotton became less profitable, and the state of Alabama helped many white farmers transition to growing and chopping timber. Her . And this case had given him lots of fodder. Until his dying wish he did not receive justice for his wrongful conviction. 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. [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. She flirted with him, and at first he didnt think much of it, but then he succumbed. Mr. McMillian was released from death row as a free man in March 1993. His conviction was wrongfully obtained, based on police coercion and perjury. Before Walter McMillian was released from death row. Sponsored by Ancestry. But we keep fighting.. The jury recommended a life sentence, but on September 19, 1988, the judge overrode the jurys recommendation and imposed the death penalty. I appreciate that the author provided just enough detail so the reader could form an emotional connection to this story. Myers said he heard popping sounds, and that when he entered the building he found McMillian, with a gun, standing over the dead body of Morrison and robbing her. His truck was later examined by Bill Hooks who claimed to have seen McMillians truck at the cleaners. He was subjected to graphic questions about the nature of his and Kellys relationship, and he left the courtroom feeling uneasy. The community heard about the tragedy as many had gathered for a fish-fry at McMillans home to raise money for their local church. But the laughter today felt very different. The false testimonies claimed that they had seen McMillian near the cleaners the morning of the murder. Home; . It was too easy for one person to come into court and frame a man for a murder he didnt commit. he sees the report about EJI for the first time. Walter McMillian. 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. 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. Its so clear they will believe someone that had inconsistent and false testimony over many people confirming his alibi. "[3] Monroe County was described by The Guardian as "a remote, dirt-poor region of pine trees and bean farms". As a black man living in southern Alabama, McMillian didnt stand a chance. 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. .com is the online source for current local and national obituary news and a supportive community where friends and family can come together during times of loss and grieving to honor the memories of their loved ones with lasting personal tributes. He became uncharacteristically emotional. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Walters case complicated the debate in very graphic ways. 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. Myers had pled guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term. 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. Still, the police were desperate to wrap up the Morrison case, and they felt that this was their opportunity. (334) 269-1803 About $35 was missing. "[10], On February 23, 1993, in his fifth appeal to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, the judges ruled 50 to reverse McMillian's conviction and grant him a new trial. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Walter McMillian. I don't give a damn what your people say either. Walter Miles McMillian's Geni Profile. I cant imagine how infuriating it must be to experience something like this. Walter was born on October 27, 1941 and passed away on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. . [4] According to his attorney Bryan Stevenson, McMillian purchased logging and paper mill equipment and became a "moderately successful businessman". Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. After six months with no leads or suspects, their attention focused on Walter McMillian. ", According to David Rose in his 1999 article in. Family History Search. Morrison, who was white, had been bludgeoned, strangled and shot three times. To him and his family, the money he got from picking cotton was worth a lot more than an education. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. For months, the police could not solve this case. Part of the evidence revealed a tape where a witness confessed to having been pressured to frame McMillan. "[9] Myers confessed that "he knew nothing about the crime, that he was not present when the crime was committed, that he had been told what to say by certain law enforcement officers, and that he had testified falsely against McMillian because of pressure from the officers. 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. According to Myers, reinstated in 1975, the majority of Alabama death row inmates have been black, although when, that the practice is occurring. DuBois's short story "Of the Coming of John", which he discusses on page 100-101. His loving friends and family spoke very highly of him and of everything he did for his community.1, On November 1, 1986 in Monroeville, Alabama, shocking news struck the town. "[10][11], On December 11, 1987, Walter McMillian and Ralph Bernard Myers, a career criminal,[13] were jointly indicted. With few ordinary comforts in his life, the attention of women was something Walter did not easily resist.. 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. But McMillian always proclaimed his innocence. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. His trial lasted only a day and a half. 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. She was shot three times in the back, and it looked like money had been taken from the cash register. They were close their community and church. 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. We encourage you to research and examine these . login . Stevenson opens chapter five with over a page of direct quotations from McMillian's sister and other family members. [7][14], McMillian's "appellate lawyers discovered that prosecutors had withheld evidence and that the state's star witnesses had lied. At least 48 people have been released from prison after serving time on death row since 1930 with significant evidence of their innocence. Early History of the McMillan family. "[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. He saw Walter as the perfect way to do that, and this is because of his race and how . Grandmother . After he had decided to take the appeal, he got a phone call from Judge Key discouraging Stevenson from taking the case. "Michael has. In the case Walter McMillian v. State proceedings it was recorded that Myers identified Larry Ikner, and Thomas Tate, as the law enforcement officers. In front of the camera, In his funeral speech, Stevenson explains that , Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Walter McMillian passed away on September 11, 2013.7. After the jury took a vote, the final decision was made, and McMillian was sentenced to death.5, In 1988, freshly graduated from Harvard, Bryan Stevenson was eager to help inmates on death row. Clients. In addition, the two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillians truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial. This set off a chain of events that changed Mr. McMillians life forever. 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. He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. Walter McMillian, who was born on October 27, 1941, lived in a black settlement near Monroeville where he "grew up picking cotton. I believe there are other people under sentence of death who like me are not guilty.. Walter McMillian (1941 - 2013) . He writes that Norton was uninterested in the subject of, career, but had become passionate about the work of EJI after interning one summer. 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. "[6], Eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison, a white dry-cleaning clerk, was murdered at Jackson Cleaners on November 1, 1986, in Monroeville, Alabama. 's office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) had "pressured [Myers] into lying about Mr. [7][Notes 7], McMillian later developed dementia, believed to have been brought on by the trauma of imprisonment. [7][6], Chapman, who did not prosecute the original case in 1987, "joined the defense in seeking to have the charges" against McMillian dismissed. I had never heard about this case before reading this article, and it is unfortunate to read about McMillian and his experience. He has won all but one of the five cases he's argued at the Court. Mr. McMillian at his familys home on the day of his release after six years on death row. This story is just one of the many injustices colored people must experience. The trial began on August 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. A new investigation was ordered. They have also lived in Winter Park, FL and Lake Mary, FL. Years later when the case settled, the compensation was much less than had been hoped. 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. He first encountered Walter while he was on death row (20). 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. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. American wrongly convicted of murder (19412013), According to the 1993 appeal, Judge R.E.L. . They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. The story of Walter McMillian in Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson is the one that I found the most intriguing. His story was a counter narrative to the rhetoric of fairness and reliability offered by politicians and law enforcement officials who wanted more and faster executions. Although there are still injustices for colored people in todays society, it Definitely has gotten better and Im glad that were working towards that. There was a tragic murder of eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison. In 1988, Walter McMillian, a Black man, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for . 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? I feel sick about the six years that [McMillian] has spent in prison and the part I played in keeping him there. Equal Justice InitiativeWalter McMillian with his family after his release from prison. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. [6] However, Chapman did not agree that there had been a "deliberate effort to frame Mr. $23.95. Judge Robert E. Lee Key overrode the jurys sentence of life imprisonment and sentenced Mr. McMillian to death by electrocution. Despite having various witnesses on his side, it seemed useless. In Alabama, elected trial judges were authorized to override a jurys life verdict and impose the death penalty. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. 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. 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. They lived in a sharecropper's shack. Darnell explains that after, at the Monroe County Courthouse, Stevensons hopes fade as Chapman expresses his unquestioning belief in, is tell the truth. Now that the retrial has been denied, Stevensons next step in, at the Tutwiler Womens Prison for the Pittman murder. EJI proved the States witnesses had lied on the stand. And he had an alibi: He was at a family fish fry the morning Ronda Morrison was murdered. 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. Stevenson came across McMillians case and met with him and began working on appealing his case. In the last two years of his life, he couldnt enjoy the outdoors or get around much without help. He suffered mentally and physically to the point where he developed early on-set dementia. Or we can deny our brokenness, foreswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. industry in its place. Not to mention, the way the author starts the article is genius. McMillian and his wife, Minnie, met when when they were teenagers and married after she became pregnant in 1962. Contact profile manager; View family tree; Margaret M (McMillan) Williams 12 Jul 1891 Ontario, Canada - 24 Jan 1932 managed by Dave Stern Susannah (McMillan) McRae 24 May 1810 Robeson, North Carolina, United States - 30 Aug 1886 managed by Rod Medders Jane (McMillan) Henderson abt 1809 Stirlingshire, Scotland, United Kingdom - abt 1859 managed by Lesley Robertson 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. Advertisement. Wonder how many of them were white, if any minorities were serving at all. For the first time in six years, Walter McMillian was a free man. Report an error or add more information about this case. Today, more than 160 people who were on death row have been proved innocent and released. I have suffered pain, agony, loss, and fear in degrees that I had never imagined possible, he testified in 1993. 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]. What effect does this have. Stevenson, now 60, continues his social justice work in Alabama. 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. With no leads for six months, the police focused their attention on Walter McMilllian. In November 1992, he told CBS News 60 Minutes that Alabama was preparing to execute the wrong. Walter married Maggie Ella McMillan (born Miller) on month day 1908, at age 24 at marriage place. 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. A week later, prosecutors dismissed the charges. McMillian was convicted by a jury of eleven whites and one African American. / Bryan Stevenson speaks with reporters after oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012. 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. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Judge Key warns Stevenson not to take on the case of, death row inmates. His trial start on Aug. 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. It is also so sad to think about the families of those who are wronged by the justice system and to imagine what they themselves are going through. In 1988, Bryan Stevenson met Walter McMillian and began working to appeal his conviction and death sentence. 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. Then, read the harrowing last words of 23 executed criminals. Financial TimesWalter McMillian (left) and Bryan Stevenson after McMillians conviction was overturned in 1993. Select this result to view Walter McMillian's phone number, address, and more. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. Equal Justice Initiative With his conviction overturned, Walter McMillian was released from death row in 1993. 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 . 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. Walter McMillian and Bryan Stevenson Equal Justice Initiative. The . The controversial case received national attention beginning in the fall of 1992. Chestnut and Bruce Boynton, later testified that the state withheld evidence that proved his innocence. I get that Morrison was at a disadvantage when faced against white men for that exact reason, but if the testimonies were so obviously inconsistent, they should have known better. At last, Walter McMillian was a free man again, after spending six years on death row.6, Once McMillian was free and returned to his hometown, he sought compensation. 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. McMillian had explained to Sheriff Tate shortly after his arrest that he was at the fish fry on the morning of November 1. The fact that this man was innocent, and everyone knew, he was still guilty. 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. [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. This was Alabama in 1986. He knew it, his family knew it, and his friends knew it. . "[5] It emerged that Sheriff Tate and investigators with the Monroe County D.A. Walter McMillian (left) and Bryan Stevenson after McMillians conviction was overturned in 1993. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. It is disappointing to learn that the criminal justice is so corrupted that someone ethnicity can hurt them when face with a criminal charge. McMillian presented six alibi witnesses who testified that they had been with him at a family fish fry the entire day. We are all broken by something. From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. The . 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