Both Willie Manning’s capital cases were tried in Mississippi’s judicial district 16. His 2015 exoneration in the Jimmerson-Jordan case is one of seven known wrongful capital convictions stemming from the same prosecutor in that district. All these cases feature false forensics and/or official misconduct.

Willie’s Motion for Rehearing* for his remaining capital case rightly alerts the Mississippi Supreme Court to this shameful pattern. Significantly, official misconduct and false forensics lie, too, at the heart of Willie’s current case.

Willie also points out that in its September 2024 Order, the Court mistakenly considered the new evidence in a piecemeal way, instead of following normal legal precedent and assessing the cumulative prejudicial impact of the evidence:
“The Court should not be blind to the complete erosion of the reliability of the State’s case at trial”.

The Motion for Rehearing also describes the Court’s “abrupt change of course” from precedent about post-conviction appeals as a way to prevent Willie appealing, thus actually changing Mississippi law.  

Willie focuses on Earl Jordan’s affidavit as particularly deserving reconsideration. The Court should note that Jordan was desperate when he signed a statement claiming Willie confessed to him; and that two months afterwards it was decided not to charge Jordan as a habitual offender. (“It is difficult to imagine a greater motivation to lie than the inducement of a reduced sentence.”).

Willie adds that several other desperate and incentivized witnesses featured in the State’s attempts to elicit false testimony against him; and that false testimony is alarmingly common in wrongful homicide convictions.

And he reaffirms the dissenting judges’ belief that the circuit court, and not the Mississippi Supreme Court, is the proper place to assess the significance of the new evidence.

All this guidance can only be helpful to the Court. We trust it will be inspired to reconsider.

*Willie Jerome Manning Petitioner v. State of Mississippi Respondent, Motion for Rehearing. No. 2023-DR-01076. In the Supreme Court of Mississippi, October 30, 2024.