The Burden of Innocence

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Justice for Willie

Today it is exactly two months since the scheduled execution date for Willie Jerome Manning. Then, the very real possibility of Willie losing his life focused our attention and spurred us on to read articles and sign petitions. The FBI and DOJ presumably prioritised Willie’s situation as a matter of life and death when they rapidly alerted officials to significant flaws in their agents’ testimony against him.

Two months on, with no critical deadline before us, but with the summer heat bearing down on Willie’s prison cell, it is perhaps an appropriate time to contemplate the burden of innocence borne year after year by many on death row; and to consider the systemic bias that propels many innocent defendants towards an unjust conviction in the USA.

Clive Stafford Smith’s disturbing book, ‘Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America’, notes this bias in all sections of officialdom involved in US law enforcement and justice. The book’s focus is the case of Khris Maharaj, who was convicted of murder despite evidence of his innocence; but the book ranges further, pointing to the prevalence of similar injustices in many other cases.

It is prosecutors that come under particular scrutiny in Daniel S. Medwed’s paper, ‘The Zeal Deal: Prosecutorial Resistance to Post-Conviction Claims of Innocence’.  Medwed explains that US prosecutors are supposed to be ‘ministers of justice’, but in practice are under considerable pressure to value convictions rather than justice (which must presumably lead to wrongful convictions). According to Medwed, high conviction rates often lead to higher budgets for district attorney offices, and to promotion for prosecutors. And at the post-conviction stage prosecutors fear the undermining of public credibility by the exoneration of an inmate, especially if that exoneration may reveal deliberate prosecutorial and police misconduct.

Medwed notes that the engrained conviction culture in district attorney offices is absorbed by young prosecutors and becomes more established as they gain experience, so that the most experienced prosecutors (i.e. those handling the highest degree felony cases) are the least likely to be troubled by the concept of justice. Instead, they increasingly adopt a gung ho stance, emphasizing their part in protecting the public and securing closure for the victims or their families.

This stance is certainly recognizable in Forest Allgood, prosecutor in both Willie’s cases, who when seeking re-election stated he would ‘take his role as a victim advocate seriously and aggressively fight for your (the victim’s) objectives’ (see Forrest Allgood’s re-election statement.) Similarly, Mississippi Attorney General, Jim Hood, reacted to Willie’s stay of execution with regret that “the victims’ families will have to continue to live this 20-plus-year nightmare” (see report in The Washington Post).

Even among experienced prosecutors there are bound to be variations, so for Willie it must be troubling to know that his prosecutor, Forrest Allgood, has a history not only of securing wrongful convictions, but of resisting defendants’ attempts to demonstrate their innocence (see Radley Balko speaking on video – starting at 8.30 – at AOL On). It is perhaps not surprising that Forrest Allgood won The Agitator’s very first ‘Worst prosecutor of the year Award’ in 2007.

So while it is the possibility of execution that may repel us most about this case, there is far more to Willie’s situation than this. Many innocents on death row feel as if they are living in a grotesque parallel universe where it is impossible to find peace; they say they prefer the prospect of execution to that of living out their lives in prison for a murder they did not commit. For Willie, who has always claimed to be free of guilt, the burden of his innocence must surely be weighing him down as the hot days of summer pass by.

Posted in African American, America, capital murder, Clive Stafford Smith, convicted, conviction, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, execution, Fly Manning, Injustice, Innocent, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, justice, Justice for WIllie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, Mississippi, Mississippi State Penitentiary, murder victims' relatives, murders, Oktibbeha County, prosecutors presented false evidence, prosecutors withheld evidence, Reprieve, Supreme Court, USA, victims' relatives, Vilification, Willie, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning, Willie Manning Mississippi, Willie Manning Mississippi Death Row | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No Matter How Long Ago

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Justice for Willie

Although there has been no announcement of anything relevant to Willie Manning for over a month, his first case was cited in the media last week to illustrate issues with the death penalty system in the USA.

Al Jazeera’s ‘Inside Story Americas – The flaws in the US justice system’ uses Willie’s first case to lead into a more general discussion about the death penalty. The program starts with a clip showing Willie looking relaxed outside the Mississippi Supreme Court at the time of his original trial (Willie has written recently that it has made him smile to see clips from so long ago being played and replayed on television following his stay of execution).

An interview with one of Willie’s lawyers ensues, conducted shortly after the stay. In this the lawyer, Rob Mink, describes the importance of the two letters from the FBI and DOJ which admitted that testimony about hair and ballistics given at Willie’s trial was invalid. Mink also mentions the Attorney General’s rejection of the FBI’s offer to conduct DNA testing.

The more general discussion that follows this introduction includes a focus on Florida’s wish to speed up the appeal process for death row inmates, thus ignoring the importance of allowing enough time for defendants to gather evidence. A similar wish for haste is sometimes expressed regarding Willie’s cases e.g. in the Picayune Item in December 2012; here, as often, this view is achieved by first highlighting the enormity of the crimes, and then replicating the prosecution’s arguments only, rather than the complete court records.

Willie was also mentioned last week in the Baltimore Sun in an article by William Sessions, former director of the FBI. Sessions compares Willie’s case with that of John Huffington of Maryland, who last month had his conviction for murder overturned when DNA testing revealed that the hair that was presented as evidence at his trial did not belong to him.

Although Sessions introduces some inaccuracies about Willie’s first case, his general points are robust. He recalls discovering to his horror that in 30 out of 100 cases where biological evidence held by the FBI was tested, the DNA did not match that of the person charged with the crime.

 The conclusions that he draws are strong, and very pertinent to Willie’s situation.

“If FBI forensic analysts and agents knowingly relied on flawed forensic evidence for decades, it is alarming. If men and women such as Messrs. Huffington and Manning still remain in prison, and in some cases on death row, it is intolerable. I commend the FBI for taking the necessary steps to inform defendants and prosecutors in every case where unreliable hair analysis was used.

“I urge state prosecutors and judges who are aware that the FBI provided potentially unreliable evidence or testimony, to work with defense counsel in those cases to ensure the accuracy of the verdicts, including allowing for additional forensic testing of evidence, especially DNA testing, and the pursuit of wrongful conviction claims. When evidence used to convict an individual is discovered to be unreliable, justice requires that we review that case, no matter how long ago the conviction occurred.”

It is to be hoped that officials in Mississippi will hear Sessions, and take note.

Posted in African American, America, ballistics testimony, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, conviction, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, Death Row injustice,, DNA testing, double murders, execution, Fly Manning, hair testimony, Injustice, Innocent, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, justice, Justice for WIllie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, Mississippi, Mississippi State Penitentiary, no physical evidence, North America, Parchman, Supreme Court, United States of America, USA, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just Walk Beside Me

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Justice for Willie

Today, June 12 2013, is Willie Manning’s 45th birthday, the nineteenth birthday he has spent behind bars on death row. This day is unlikely to be marked by any change of routine – Willie will have the usual challenges of death row existence to face. He will, however, know that many people are supporting him, and this will no doubt give him strength.

On this website you can now see in the ‘News Coverage’ section* examples of news articles and TV and radio programs about Willie: they demonstrate clearly how media interest about Willie grew around the time of his scheduled execution date of May 7 2013. At about that time people from 57 countries** visited this website, united by their wish to find out about Willie’s cases and the decisions that had been made about them.

As Willie wrote recently when learning how much support he had:

“What I’ve had to experience in my own life, and a lot that I’ve seen happening around the world, are things that I can’t understand. It seems like bad things are just going to happen regardless. But yet, there are so many good people in this world.”

With uncertainty about the Mississippi Supreme Court’s intentions continuing to hang over him, the friendship of many of those good people will sustain him on what is likely to be his most stressful birthday yet.

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”  Albert Camus

*Update: This section has since been discontinued. Articles that were in this section have been incorporated into the home page and posts.

**Visitors came to this website from USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago, St Kitts, Bahamas, Ireland, UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Estonia, Russian Federation, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Angola, South Africa, Uganda, Israel, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand

Posted in African American, America, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, conviction, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, DNA testing, double murders, execution, Fly Manning, Injustice, Innocent, justice, justice for Willie Manning, Mississippi, murders, Vilification, Willie, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Eleventh Hour (Since 2001)

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Justice for Willie

In letters sent to us during May, Willie Manning has referred gratefully to the support that he received when he was at his most vulnerable:

“It’s difficult for me to even wrap my mind around the support that we got from all the wonderful people around this world. That really felt good to know that so many people were concerned, and gave me strength.”

A month ago that support was desperately needed. On May 2, Willie’s Motion for Rehearing was denied, and petitions to Governor Bryant had been started. On May 3 Attorney General Jim Hood was dismissive about Willie’s request for DNA testing of biological evidence, referring to ‘dilatory defense tactics’ in which the defense ‘waits until the 11th hour to raise such claims’ (read his statement at worldnow.com).

In fact, defense lawyers were very far from dilatory. As far back as 2001 they filed a motion in the state court to inspect the physical evidence; this motion was ultimately denied by the state supreme court in 2006, but then granted by the federal court. After inspecting the evidence, defense attorneys filed a motion with the federal court for DNA testing. Some rudimentary testing was done on some of the materials, but no DNA testing has been performed on any of the evidence.

With the Attorney General construing a process started in 2001 as ‘dilatory’, Willie clearly needed friends. And, to Willie’s eternal gratitude, those friends appeared.

We still haven’t heard anything at all from the Mississippi Supreme Court. But if Willie’s request for DNA testing is ultimately denied, we will have had more time to absorb the facts. We will know that for Willie the eleventh hour began in 2001.

Posted in African American, America, capital murder, convicted, conviction, Death, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, Death Row Injustice, DNA testing, double murders, Exculpatory evidence, Execution Date Opposed, fingerprints, Fly Manning, Injustice, Innocent, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, Justice, justice, justice for Willie Manning, Manning, Mississippi, no physical evidence, North America, Oktibbeha County, stacked jury, Supreme Court, Suzanne Steckler, Tiffany Miller, unreliable witnesses, USA, Vilification, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning, Willie Manning Mississippi, Willie Manning Mississippi Death Row | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Another Astonishing Ruling

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Justice for Willie

On March 2, Willie Manning submitted a post-hearing memorandum challenging the constitutional validity of his convictions for the murders of two elderly ladies at their apartment in Brooksville Garden in 1993. This is the second of Willie’s two cases, and involved the same prosecutor as in his first case (Forrest Allgood).
As mentioned in the previous post, the primary issues to be pursued in this case are:

  • the State failed to disclose evidence favorable to Willie (it did not disclose crime lab notes about the shoe size of a print found at the murder scene, which was several sizes smaller than Willie’s shoes).
  • the State presented false evidence (it did not disclose law enforcement notes showing that the key witness’s essential testimony was false, as the apartment where he claimed to have lived, and from where he stated that he observed Willie, was empty at the time).

On Tuesday May 21, Oktibbeha County Circuit Judge Lee Howard denied Willie’s post-hearing memorandum in this case  (see Associated Press report carried by many newspapers e.g. Jackson Free Press).

The report states,

‘In the ruling issued Tuesday, Howard wrote: “The court finds that Lucious’ testimony that he was threatened into testifying at the petitioner’s trial and that Allgood knew his testimony to be false is unreliable and should be given no weight in the present proceedings.”’

Willie’s attorney, Robert Mink, said he will appeal, as the prosecutors’ case against Manning was based on the testimony of an alleged eyewitness who later recanted. Mink is quoted as saying, “This is just astonishing”.

Astonishing it certainly is; but, sadly, not unusual. Unfortunately for Willie Manning, astonishing and shocking rulings seem to have become the norm.

Posted in African American, America, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, convicted, conviction, Death, death penalty, Death Row, Death Row injustice,, double murders, Exculpatory evidence, execution, Fly Manning, Injustice, Innocent, jailhouse informant, justice, justice for Willie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, Mississippi, Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman, murders, Oktibbeha County, Parchman, prosecutors presented false evidence, prosecutors withheld evidence, United States of America, unreliable witnesses, USA, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Manning, Willie Manning murders | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Till I Turn to Dust

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Justice for Willie

Willie Manning’s second conviction (the 1993 murder of two elderly African American ladies, Emmoline Jimmerson and Alberta Jordan) has been very much overshadowed by his recent narrow escape from execution for his first conviction (the 1992 murder of two white students). On Friday, though, Willie’s second case was mentioned in several Mississippi newspapers: the judge now considering that case, Oktibbeha County Circuit Judge Lee Howard, asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to allow him till June 28 to file his ruling on Willie’s post-hearing memorandum. The ruling will not bring Willie into immediate danger: he could appeal through the federal system if Mississippi courts rule against him (see The Mississippi Press).

Convictions for two double murders will suggest to many that Willie must be guilty of at least one of these terrible crimes. But there is another way of looking at it. As Clive Stafford Smith put it in his article about Willie in the New Statesman:

“The prosecutor in his case managed to get juries to vote for no fewer than four death sentences on Willie, in two separate trials, just in case executing him once did not do the job.”

So, Willie had the same prosecutor in both his cases. Much has already been written about this prosecutor, Forrest Allgood, and his history of securing convictions which have later been overturned. He features in Radley Balko’s ‘Rogues’ gallery of misbehaving prosecutors’, which can be seen at reason.com. In the Chicago Huffington Post David Protess raises the question of Allgood’s accountability if Willie were to be executed without DNA testing. Allgood’s reputation is unlikely to inspire confidence in defendants facing him in court in one case, let alone in two.

Willie’s convictions are linked not only by Allgood’s involvement, but by the large number of questionable issues in both cases. In the first case, as we have been hearing over the last two weeks, there are issues of ‘false snitch testimony, junk science, and racial bias’ (see The ACLU’s blog).

In the second case the main issues to be raised are:

  • the State failed to disclose evidence favorable to Willie (it did not disclose crime lab notes about the shoe size of a print found at the murder scene, which was several sizes smaller than Willie’s shoes).
  • the State presented false evidence (it did not disclose law enforcement notes showing that the key witness’s essential testimony was false, as the apartment where he claimed to have lived, and from where he stated that he observed Willie, was empty at the time).

There are clearly many issues in both cases that need to be clarified. For Willie, though, this will not happen quickly: his best hope is that he will be allowed to continue lengthy legal proceedings while awaiting the outcome in his tiny cell. It is indeed fortunate that he has the determination and strength to keep fighting to clear his name.

 “I won’t stop fighting until I clear my name or turn to dust. Whichever comes first. My spirit has not been broken and my focus is as clear as ever.” Willie Manning: July 24 2012

Posted in African American, Ain't you got a right to the tree of life, America, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, Clive Stafford Smith, convicted, conviction, date, Death, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, Death Row Injustice, death row injustice mississippi, Death Row injustice,, denied effective counsel, DNA testing, double murders, Exculpatory evidence, execution, Execution Date Opposed, execution date opposed, failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, fingerprints, Fly Manning, Ineffective trial attorneys, Injustice, Innocent, jailhouse informant, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, Justice, justice, justice for Willie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, missed deadline, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman, MS, murder victims' relatives, murders, NAACP, no physical evidence, North America, Oktibbeha County, opposed, Parchman, Penalty phase, Penitentiary, petition, Post, prosecutors presented false evidence, prosecutors withheld evidence, Reprieve, Row, stacked jury, Supreme Court, Suzanne Steckler, Tiffany Miller, tree of life, tree of life video, tree of life,, Uncategorized, United States of America, unreliable witnesses, USA, victims' relatives, Vilification, Willie, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning, Willie Manning Mississippi, Willie Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning murderer, Willie Manning murders, Willie Manning video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Remember Edwin Hart Turner

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Justice for Willie

For Willie Manning time must be passing slowly: every day has come and gone without a new Order from the Mississippi Supreme Court. He knows only too well that the stay of execution that he has been granted is precarious.

In February last year a fellow inmate, Edwin Hart Turner, had a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) postponing his execution suddenly overturned at the Attorney General’s instigation. Edwin was executed before even the other inmates realized what was happening.

In attempting to obtain a TRO, Edwin’s attorneys argued that he needed a mental health evaluation, as he had committed murder while his condition was inadequately medicated (see the Daily Mail ).

The Federal Court for the Southern District of Mississippi accepted the need for a psychiatric assessment, and on Monday February 6 delayed the scheduled execution. However, the Attorney General, Jim Hood, was unhappy with this, echoing the objections that he has expressed recently to Willie’s request for DNA testing:

“(T)his present action is nothing more than an attempt to re-litigate a claim that has been properly adjudicated at every turn”.

Two days later, on Wednesday February 8, Hood persuaded a federal appeals court in New Orleans to vacate the TRO and allow the execution (read report at the Jackson Free Press.

Willie had long recognized Edwin’s mental health difficulties and tried to support him in any small way in which he could. He wrote about the last time that he saw Edwin:

“After they didn’t come to get him on Monday (as they normally do 48 hours before an execution) we all thought that the courts were about to seriously consider his mental illness. When they came to get him about 12 pm on Wednesday… I actually thought they were taking him out to a mental hospital hospital to be evaluated. I had no idea that the attorney general had appealed the court’s ruling and that his ‘stay’ had been vacated.

So when he looked upstairs at me and waved goodbye I gave him the thumbs up. Wow! That was really messed up. If anyone stood a chance of winning on that issue it should’ve been him. That situation should have opened a lot of eyes around here. I really hate that for my lil buddy.”

Sadly, Willie’s compassion for a man suffering from mental illness was not matched by those who had the power to delay his execution so that he could be provided with a more effective treatment than Prozac.

While Edwin went to his fate with hardly a protest from the public, Willie’s case has been scrutinized across the world. While Hood’s objections to Edwin’s TRO were barely questioned, his assertion that Willie’s lawyers were ‘dilatory’ has been labeled ‘Stinker Quote of the week’ by the Jackson Free Press in Mississippi.

Despite Willie’s relative advantages, we should not be complacent about his situation. Instead, we should remember how quickly things changed for Edwin Hart Turner.

Posted in African American, Ain't you got a right to the tree of life, America, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, Clive Stafford Smith, convicted, conviction, date, Death, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, Death Row Injustice, death row injustice mississippi, Death Row injustice,, denied effective counsel, DNA testing, double murders, evecution, Exculpatory evidence, execution, Execution Date Opposed, execution date opposed, failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, fingerprints, Fly Manning, Ineffective trial attorneys, Injustice, Innocent, jailhouse informant, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, Justice, justice, Justice for WIllie Manning, justice for Willie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, missed deadline, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman, MS, murder victims' relatives, murders, NAACP, no physical evidence, North America, Oktibbeha County, opposed, Parchman, Penalty phase, Penitentiary, petition, Post, prosecutors presented false evidence, prosecutors withheld evidence, Reprieve, Row, stacked jury, Supreme Court, Suzanne Steckler, Tiffany Miller, tree of life, tree of life video, tree of life,, Uncategorized, United States of America, unreliable witnesses, USA, victims' relatives, Vilification, Willie, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning, Willie Manning Mississippi, Willie Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning murderer, Willie Manning murders, Willie Manning video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No Matter How Big the Lie

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Justice for Willie

As he has done before, Willie Manning is awaiting the court’s decision about whether to allow DNA testing. He must be aware that his life still hangs in the balance; but he probably knows also that his story has now reached a wider audience, who are coming to his case with an open mind. He may have learned that newspapers such as The Washington Post and The New York Times took his story nationwide and beyond. He may know that broadcasters have interviewed representatives from the Innocence Project (see video on Democracy Now), his attorneys (see Al Jazeera) and his supporters (see blogtalkradio) and publicised their viewpoints.

Willie is less likely to know that the analysis has probed more deeply. The ACLU’s blog notices in Willie’s case the hallmarks of other innocent death row exonerees: ‘false snitch testimony, junk science, and racial bias’. The Huffington Post includes a report by the Innocence Project’s David Protess , who notes that the prosecutor in Willie’s case, DA Allgood, has a record of successful prosecutions in murder cases that have subsequently been overturned by DNA testing. Andrew Cohen in The Atlantic describes how Justice Randolph ‘in just a few paragraphs helped illustrate the dubious rationale behind so many of these flawed capital cases’. Steve Lendman’s blog  ‘Unjustly sentenced to death’ includes the ACLU’s arguments against the death penalty as part of his analysis of Willie’s case.

What a contrast with the past weeks! Outside Mississippi Willie’s case went unnoticed. Inside Mississippi first reports in the local press of his petition did not even mention his request for DNA testing, although this formed a significant part of the document. And as recently as a week before the stay of execution the Jackson Free Press, founded as a progressive newspaper, published an article headlined Mississippi Preps for Year’s First Execution, using a picture at least as ghoulish as the photos of the execution chamber on the Parchman website, and an almost gleeful statement about Mississippi’s’s second place in the league table for executions. There was not a mention of the many arguments against executions (see Death Penalty Harm).

This was nothing, however, compared with what Willie has had to contend with in the past. After a court reversed its decision in 2006, a local television station hosted the prosecutor in Willie’s case, who vilified Willie as Beelzebub, the Devil’s lieutenant (see Clive Stafford Smith’s article in the New Statesman).

John F Kennedy said “No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.” This is a technique that was also familiar to Adolph Hitler, who observed: “(T)he most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly and with unflagging attention. It must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.”

When the spotlight falls again on Willie’s case, as it inevitably must, perhaps we should pay closer attention to Willie’s opponents and what they are saying. Are they repeating over and over their statements about Willie’s ‘frivolous request’ and ‘eleventh hour demands’? 

Fortunately for Willie, there are people now watching his case who are coming to it fresh. And fortunately they include many with both critical awareness and a belief in justice. It is not by chance that this comment from the Mississippi Innocence Project was chosen by the Huffington Post as their second choice for quotation of the week.

“There is no good reason to execute anyone without performing the testing that could definitively prove guilt or innocence.”

We must hope that Mississippi’s media, along with that of the rest of the world, will now take seriously their responsibility to report Willie’s case fairly.

Posted in African American, Ain't you got a right to the tree of life, America, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, Clive Stafford Smith, convicted, conviction, date, Death, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, Death Row Injustice, death row injustice mississippi, Death Row injustice,, denied effective counsel, DNA testing, double murders, Exculpatory evidence, execution, Execution Date Opposed, execution date opposed, failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, fingerprints, Fly Manning, Ineffective trial attorneys, Injustice, Innocent, jailhouse informant, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, Justice, justice, Justice for WIllie Manning, justice for Willie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, missed deadline, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman, MS, murder victims' relatives, murders, NAACP, no physical evidence, North America, Oktibbeha County, opposed, Parchman, Penalty phase, Penitentiary, petition, Post, prosecutors presented false evidence, prosecutors withheld evidence, Reprieve, Row, stacked jury, Supreme Court, Suzanne Steckler, Tiffany Miller, tree of life, tree of life video, tree of life,, Uncategorized, United States of America, unreliable witnesses, USA, victims' relatives, Vilification, Willie, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning, Willie Manning Mississippi, Willie Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning murderer, Willie Manning murders, Willie Manning video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thank You, Everyone!

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Justice for Willie

Through his attorney, Willie extends his thanks to everyone who has supported him.

Death Row is a lonely and challenging place, where messages of support can mean the difference between keeping going and giving up. It has helped Willie enormously to know that there are people who care about him, and who have been thinking of him and praying for him.

On April 17th he wrote in a letter,

“I know there are many who are thinking of me and wishing me well. I believe it’s all going to work out. I can feel it.”

According to the Associated Press, Willie was similarly optimistic just before the scheduled execution:

‘On Tuesday, Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps said Manning had expressed optimism to him and the guards outside his holding cell that the execution would be stopped.

“He said he had faith in God and all was in His hands. He said he had faith,” Epps said.’

 His supporters have had a role to play in maintaining his optimism; you can be sure that Willie’s thanks to them are heartfelt.

 Meanwhile Willie’s attorneys have stated that they plan to consult experts about further testing of hair and ballistics evidence, following the revelations of flawed testimony about both . If they can, the attorneys will press for a retrial, or for the DNA evidence to be examined using modern techniques. It is uncertain how long the stay of execution will last; it is the Mississippi Supreme Court that will decide this.

You can watch the video at Al Jazeera.

Posted in African American, Ain't you got a right to the tree of life, America, Brookville Gardens murders, capital murder, Clive Stafford Smith, convicted, conviction, date, Death, death penalty, death penalty injustice, Death Row, Death Row Injustice, death row injustice mississippi, Death Row injustice,, denied effective counsel, DNA testing, double murders, Exculpatory evidence, execution, Execution Date Opposed, execution date opposed, failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, fingerprints, Fly Manning, Ineffective trial attorneys, Injustice, Innocent, jailhouse informant, Jim Hood Attorney General, Jon Steckler, Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, Justice, justice, Justice for WIllie Manning, justice for Willie Manning, Justice4Willie, Manning, missed deadline, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Mississippi State Penitentiary, Mississippi State Penitentiary Parchman, MS, murder victims' relatives, murders, NAACP, no physical evidence, North America, Oktibbeha County, opposed, Parchman, Penalty phase, Penitentiary, petition, Post, prosecutors presented false evidence, prosecutors withheld evidence, Reprieve, Row, stacked jury, Supreme Court, Suzanne Steckler, Tiffany Miller, tree of life, tree of life video, tree of life,, Uncategorized, United States of America, unreliable witnesses, USA, victims' relatives, Vilification, Willie Fly Manning, Willie Jerome Manning, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi, Willie Jerome Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning, Willie Manning Mississippi, Willie Manning Mississippi Death Row, Willie Manning murderer, Willie Manning murders, Willie Manning video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

He Will See Tomorrow!

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Justice for Willie

The Mississippi State Court has today found that “the Motion to Stay Execution should be granted until further Order of this Court”. While his supporters around the world are celebrating, Willie will go back to his regular cell and regular routine. He will have to face the usual challenges of life on death row, but at least he will see tomorrow.

Read more, including a PDF of the court decision at The Natchez Democrat.

Earlier in the day a press release informed us of an FBI admission that a second part of the testimony given at Willie’s trial was flawed. Bullets removed from a tree were linked by witness evidence to Willie; FBI experts testified at the trial that these bullets

“were fired from the same gun as the bullets that were recovered from the scene of the murders and from the victims’ bodies, to the exclusion of all other guns.”

The FBI now admits that an expert cannot use the “to the exclusion of all other guns” standard.

This evidence, described at the trial as “even ‘[m]ore damning testimony”, must now be disregarded, along with the hair evidence that was discredited last week. Let us hope that Willie will now be allowed to have the DNA testing that he has been requesting for so long.

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