They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. The officials involved in prosecuting McMillian received no punishment or removal from their positions. Like Walter, she is from the poor black community just outside of Monroeville. Appellant, Walter McMillian, was jointly indicted with Ralph Myers, in a two-count indictment, on December 11, 1987, in Monroe County, for the capital offense of murder committed during a robbery in the first degree, in violation of 13A-5-40(a)(2), Code of Alabama 1975. . . 2d 1289 (Ala.Cr.App.1992) denied the claims by McMillian's attorneys. Then, read the harrowing last words of 23 executed criminals. Police were skeptical that Myers and McMillian were really accomplices, and so they conducted an experiment. Walter McMillian (Photo/Equal Justice Initiative) 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. Stevenson was in his 20s and eager to take on the case, even though the unfortunately named judge discouraged him from doing so. It was a pleasure to read this article about William McMillan. In a 2015 NPR interview, Stevenson described how that phone call was a "very, very bizarre start to my career and to the work that I was doing in Alabama." Less than two years later, he was convicted of murder a murder he didnt commit. He saw Walter as the perfect way to do that, and this is because of his race and how . It was the last state in the U.S. to overturn laws banning interracial marriage but that wouldnt happen for another 14 years. Within weeks, McMillian was transferred to a maximum-security state prison in Atmore, Alabama. He has won all but one of the five cases he's argued at the Court. The racial bias against McMillian is shown in his interactions with the law . The visits from his family were the only thing getting him by in his time there. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. He died on September 11, 2013. WRONGFUL CONVICTION 2 In Monroeville, Alabama November 1, 1986, a white woman by the name of Ronda Morrison was murdered. [6] However, Chapman did not agree that there had been a "deliberate effort to frame Mr. He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. Several months later, police arrested 30-year-old Ralph Myers, a career criminal, on suspicion of murdering a woman in nearby Escambia County. Or we can deny our brokenness, foreswear compassion, and, as a result, deny our own humanity. 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. [3] He died on September 11, 2013. When McMillian reached adulthood, he noticed this trend and borrowed money to buy his own equipment; by the 1980s, he owned a modestly profitable pulpwood business. Supporters celebrated Mr. McMillians release. A new investigation was ordered. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. They had an affair, and when Kellys husband found out, things took a turn. In front of the camera, In his funeral speech, Stevenson explains that , Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. One of the many Alabama cases assigned to him is that of. Husband of Libbie Wood. When he asked for an explanation, they loudly and angrily said that he was being charged with sodomy for assaulting a man. Genealogy for Walter Miles McMillian (1850 - 1922) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. McMillian was shocked and absolutely saddened to hear about it. He was then taken to the local jail where the charge was quickly dismissed. Our death penalty system treats you better if youre rich and guilty than if youre poor and innocent. Those six years on death row traumatized McMillian in many unthinkable ways. Sheriff Tate was never removed from office; he retired in 2019. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town By Pete Earley Bantam. On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. When Minnie became pregnant in 1962, they were married. [9], Following his own trial and sentencing, Ralph Bernard Myers told McMillian's trial counsel that the testimony he gave "against McMillian was false. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation ultimately confirmed the evidence uncovered by EJI and determined that Mr. McMillian was innocent, but prosecutors still wavered on whether they would join the motion filed by EJI to dismiss all charges against Mr. McMillian. memorial page for Albert Walter McMillian (13 Oct 1862-2 Oct 1948), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7915499, citing Oakland Cemetery, Saint Paul . I am also worried about others. "[6], The story was featured in a 1995 book entitled Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town by former Washington Post journalist Pete Earley. 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. Stevenson opens chapter five with over a page of direct quotations from McMillian's sister and other family members. He "did not have a history of violence. 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. [2] Stevenson featured this early case of his career in a TED talk and in his memoir Just Mercy (2014). This article is informative and well written! McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001. 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. 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. 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. Walter was an unlikely suspect in Ronda's murder. He first encountered Walter while he was on death row (20). They stopped him with guns pointing at his face, and they shoved him up against his truck. Hooks later testified at McMillians trial. Four former death row inmates have been released from prison just this year after their innocence became apparent: Kirk Bloodsworth, Federico Macias, Walter McMillian, and Gregory Wilhoit. How famous was Albert Walter McMillian? Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. 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. Walters sense of humor hadnt failed him despite his six years on death row. Research genealogy for Walter Mcmillian of Florida, as well as other members of the Mcmillian family, on Ancestry. In the 1988 trial, under a controversial Alabama doctrine called "judicial override", the judge imposed the death . Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. Teachers and parents! Walter McMillian with his family after his release from prison. Tell McMillian lost an appeal in 1991 and his conviction and death sentence were affirmed. [6] McMillian's conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1991 in McMillian v. State, 594 So. They put me on death row for six years! 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. 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.. We encourage you to research and examine these . [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. Innocence conference at Northwestern Law School, Chicago, 1998. The Registry provides detailed information about every known exoneration in the United States since 1989cases in which a person was wrongly convicted of a crime and later cleared of all the charges based on new evidence of innocence. But when the word got out about their affair, he grew worried. 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. Equal Justice InitiativeWalter 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. Stevenson recounts the story that Ralph Myers gave to police. Explore genealogy for Walter McMillian born 1941 Monroe County, Alabama, United States died 2013 including ancestors + more in the free family tree community. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. But the jury 11 white members and one black member took the prosecutions word. 2. I lost my I lost my dignity.. [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. Despite the lack of any physical evidence linking McMillian to the murder of a white clerk named Ronda Morrison, he was arrested for the crime more than six months after it took place. Walter had 3 siblings: Isabelle Page (born Mcmillan) and 2 other siblings. As depicted in Just Mercy, Walter McMillain's case was among the first - and the most important - of attorney Bryan Stevenson's career.After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1985, nearly a year before Morrison's murder (an inaccuracy in the film's timeline), Stevenson moved first to Atlanta, Georgia and then to Montgomery, where he helped form the Alabama Capital Representation . The trial began on August 15, 1988 and lasted only a day and a half. The following week, on March 2, Circuit Court Judge Pamela W. Baschab ruled on the motion, dismissing all charges against McMillian. I'm going to put twelve people on a jury who are going to find your goddamn black ass guilty. 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 met Karen Kelly, who was 25 and unhappily married, at the Waffle House where he ate breakfast. He then slipped him a note, supposedly written by Karen Kelly, but McMillian looked confused and threw the note away. He suffered mentally and physically to the point where he developed early on-set dementia. One of his friends said they were working on that same truck that morning; the transmission was out of it. 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. Walter McMillian was nearly put to death for a crime he did not commit One of young lawyer Stevenson's first and most incendiary cases after founding the non-profit Equal Justice Initiative was. They had met as teenagers. Again, great work! Each testimony had inconsistencies in their stories, but that did not matter. Starting with, ordinary life lets the reader know that this could happen to anyone of color. 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]. The false testimonies claimed that they had seen McMillian near the cleaners the morning of the murder. The trauma Mr. McMillian experienced led to early-onset dementia. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against McMillian, holding that a county sheriff could not be sued for money damages. The person of interest was a black man named Walter McMillian. [9][5] She had been shot numerous times from behind. Walter McMillian (Photo/Equal Justice Initiative). This was Alabama in 1986. He implicated not just himself, but McMillian as well. 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. He knew it, his family knew it, and his friends knew it. Weeks later, at around 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 1, 1986, 18-year-old Ronda Morrison a white college student who was beloved by the local community was found dead at a Monroeville dry cleaners, where she worked part-time. Walter Miles McMillian's Geni Profile. They had 2 children: Isabella Mae McMillan and one other child. About $35 was missing. While McMillian did receive an undisclosed amount of compensation, it was less than he had hoped for. We encourage you to research and examine these . She was shot three times in the back, and it looked like money had been taken from the cash register. On Feb. 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. Soon, he went from being a man who had an interracial affair to someone capable of murder. For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. In 1988, Walter McMillian, a Black man, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for . McMillian filed a civil lawsuit against state and local officials, which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Myers was picked up for a different murder, that of a poor white woman named Vickie Pittman. [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. Stevenson obtained the recording where Myers confessed to the Morrison murder, but when they flipped the tape they heard the same man complaining about confessing to a crime he and McMillian did not commit. For months, the police could not solve this case. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Since then, the EJI has made some landmark advances in leveling . 53 records for Walter Mcmillian. 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. After he had decided to take the appeal, he got a phone call from Judge Key discouraging Stevenson from taking the case. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. 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. As Bryan Stevenson, McMillians future lawyer, wrote in his memoir Just Mercy, Tree work is notoriously demanding and dangerous. Innocence conference at Northwestern law School, Chicago, 1998 next step in, at Court..., at the Waffle house where he ate breakfast direct quotations from &... Like LitCharts does compassion, and they shoved him up against his truck the EJI has made some advances... Where the charge was quickly dismissed the last state in the years after his release from prison so! Mcmillian is shown in his memoir just Mercy ( 2014 ) of it he got a call! Taking the case, even though the unfortunately named Judge discouraged him from so. 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