The officials involved in prosecuting McMillian received no punishment or removal from their positions. 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. Not at all.. As Bryan Stevenson, McMillians future lawyer, wrote in his memoir Just Mercy, Tree work is notoriously demanding and dangerous. At least 48 people have been released from prison after serving time on death row since 1930 with significant evidence of their innocence. One of the many Alabama cases assigned to him is that of. Subsequently, McMillian settled with other officials for an undisclosed amount. There was a new county sheriff, and people were whispering about his incompetence. As Mr. Stevenson and the staff of EJI investigated the case, they discovered a ton of evidence that proved Mr. McMillian was innocent. They have also lived in Winter Park, FL and Lake Mary, FL. Find Walter Mcmillian's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. I am also worried about others. The person of interest was a black man named 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. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Home; . McMillian was then placed in a cell on death row where he waited for a year before his trial took place. 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. Equal Justice InitiativeWalter McMillian spent six years on Alabamas death row for a murder he didnt commit. An uncle of the murder victim, in fact, came by and told them she was killed, witnesses said. With no leads for six months, the police focused their attention on Walter McMilllian. In the last two years of his life, he couldnt enjoy the outdoors or get around much without help. How famous was Albert Walter McMillian? He was allowed forty-five minutes of exercise per day and a few hours in the day room per week. Testimony of the trial lasted a day and a half. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our McMillan research. 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. Maggie was born on October 8 1888, in Sunnyside, Belledune, Restigouche, New Brunswick, Canada. McMillian had a business of his own and was an upstanding member of his community. Despite insisting he was at a church fish dry with dozens of witnesses, including a police officer, he was seen as a suspect. Aside from having a misdemeanor charge from a barroom fight, he had a clean record and no other charges to his name. Walter McMillians post-conviction ordeal is featured in the film. Known to his friends and family as Johnny D, Mr. McMillian spent 15 harrowing and tortuous months on Alabamas death row before trial. . Genealogy for Walter Miles McMillian (1850 - 1922) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. 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. Another time journalism helped bring justice into worldview was in the Walter McMillian case. Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures. This story is just one of the many injustices colored people must experience. Since then, the EJI has made some landmark advances in leveling . I'm going to put twelve people on a jury who are going to find your goddamn black ass guilty. App.1991). He claimed that McMillian's exoneration "proved the system worked. You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. . I lost my I lost my dignity.. He wasnt just enraged that his wife was cheating on him she was cheating on him with a black man. 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. Walter is related to Jane Marie Price and Jaline Renae McMillan as well as 3 additional people. The Morrison case had generated considerable publicity in Monroe County, which was 40 percent black, and so Walter McMillians trial was moved down south to Baldwin County which was 86 percent white. Research genealogy for Walter McMillian of Mississippi, USA, as well as other members of the McMillian family, on Ancestry. Walter McMillian, who was born on October 27, 1941, lived in a black settlement near Monroeville where he "grew up picking cotton. "[6] He was held there, pre-trial, for 15 months. They threatened me for six years. McMillian presented six alibi witnesses who testified that they had been with him at a family fish fry the entire day. What effect does this have. he sees the report about EJI for the first time. I think everybody needs to understand what happened because what happened today could happen tomorrow if we dont learn some lessons from this, said Stevenson on the day McMillians charges were dismissed. His case drew public attention to wrongful convictions, and many more people were exonerated in the years after his release. Within weeks, McMillian was transferred to a maximum-security state prison in Atmore, Alabama. In 1988, Walter McMillian, a black man, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for murdering an 18-year-old white woman in Monroeville, Alabama. In addition, the two witnesses who had testified that they had seen McMillians truck retracted their testimony, and admitted that they lied at trial. In a taped confession, Myers said he drove McMillian to the dry cleaners on the morning of Nov. 1, 1986, but McMillian entered the building alone. login . As a result, Alabama passed its 2001 compensation statute. This story is incredibly heartbreaking and sadly not very uncommon. The second best result is Walter McMillian age 70s in Orlando, FL in the Holden Heights neighborhood. I lost my job. Bryan Stevenson discusses the outrageous miscarriage of justice in the case of Walter McMillian. McMillian." 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. Family History Search. Enter a grandparent's name. 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. We invite you to learn more about the clients featured in the book below. 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. Supporters celebrated Mr. McMillians release. McMillian lost an appeal in 1991 and his conviction and death sentence were affirmed. Myers had pled guilty as a conspirator in the murder and received a 30-year prison term. After six months, the police had a possible person of interest. In November 1992, he told CBS News 60 Minutes that Alabama was preparing to execute the wrong. He then slipped him a note, supposedly written by Karen Kelly, but McMillian looked confused and threw the note away. McMillian and his wife, Minnie, met when when they were teenagers and married after she became pregnant in 1962. They lived in a sharecropper's shack. He writes that Norton was uninterested in the subject of, career, but had become passionate about the work of EJI after interning one summer. The controversial case received national attention beginning in the fall of 1992. I lost my reputation. Walter McMillian worked hard providing for his wife and their three children. "[9][Notes 6][3][12] In pursuing those claims, the attorneys obtained the original recording of Myers' confession. . As a result, a stunning number of innocent people have been sentenced to death. He suffered mentally and physically to the point where he developed early on-set dementia. Jamie Foxx portrays McMillian and Michael B. Jordan stars as Stevenson. He had a large, tight-knit family and several children with his wife. He had all the evidence and witnesses he could and still knowing in the end it was useless and wouldnt help him for his case is sad. When a mostly-white jury convicted Walter McMillian in 1988 for the murder of a white woman in Monroeville, Alabama and recommended life in prison, a local judge overruled them and imposed the death penalty instead. Equal Justice Initiative Walter McMillian with his family after his release from prison. "Michael has. Walter McMillian was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Today, more than 160 people who were on death row have been proved innocent and released. 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. They tortured me with the promise of execution for six years. While McMillian did receive an undisclosed amount of compensation, it was less than he had hoped for. I appreciate that the author provided just enough detail so the reader could form an emotional connection to this story. McMillian clearly recalled the moment the news got to them. One of his friends said they were working on that same truck that morning; the transmission was out of it. A student organization of St. Marys University of San Antonio, Texas, featuring scholarly research, writing, and media from students of all disciplines. Report an error or add more information about this case. This story was very sad to read, and unfortunately a clear reality in todays times with our criminal justice system in the United States. Judge Robert E. Lee Key, Jr., "had McMillian await trial on death row, as if a death sentence were a foregone conclusion, and relocated the trial from a county that was forty per cent black to an overwhelmingly white one," Baldwin County, where 86 percent of the residents were white, because the case had "generated extraordinary publicity. From my cell you could smell the stench of burning flesh. Years later when the case settled, the compensation was much less than had been hoped. The 45-year-old self-employed logger had worked for several people in the community and had no criminal history. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. The jury recommended a life sentence, but on September 19, 1988, the judge overrode the jurys recommendation and imposed the death penalty. Stevenson finishes by calling on, of the other witness testimonies. We have a choice. In the 1988 trial, under a controversial Alabama doctrine called "judicial override", the judge imposed the death . 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. "[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. . By the 1950s, however, cotton became less profitable, and the state of Alabama helped many white farmers transition to growing and chopping timber. This set off a chain of events that changed Mr. McMillians life forever. After, Stevenson agrees to work with the CBS program 60 Minutes to produce a story about, an innocent man in prison until the real murderer is found. We have all hurt someone and have been hurt. I ought to take you off and hang you like we done that nigger in Mobile. It took a significant toll on his health and led to him developing early-onset dementia. A new investigation was ordered. 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. Then, read the harrowing last words of 23 executed criminals. On Feb. 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. Walter McMillian was married to Minnie McMillian for 25 years. I have suffered pain, agony, loss, and fear in degrees that I had never imagined possible, he testified in 1993. But the laughter today felt very different. 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. 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 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. People were more concerned with convicting an innocent man of a murder he did not commit rather than finding the victims murderer. 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. We can embrace our humanness, which means embracing our broken natures and the compassion that remains our best hope for healing. He had about half a dozen of his friends and family members testifying that they were with him at the time of the crime. 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. . It is disappointing to learn that the criminal justice is so corrupted that someone ethnicity can hurt them when face with a criminal charge. He filed civil lawsuits against state and local officials for his wrongful conviction. Walter McMillian (Photo/Equal Justice Initiative). [7][6], Chapman, who did not prosecute the original case in 1987, "joined the defense in seeking to have the charges" against McMillian dismissed. We encourage you to research and examine these . 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. 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. 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. [3] For the most accurate data, please search on the Detailed View page. After he had decided to take the appeal, he got a phone call from Judge Key discouraging Stevenson from taking the case. Walter McMillian lived an ordinary life alongside his wife Minnie McMillian and their three children. TRIAL: Defense asked for the trial to be moved from Monroe County to Baldwin County in Alabama due to the publicity. 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. The case had generated an unusual amount of media coverage. When Minnie became pregnant in 1962, they were married. He came to attention because he had an affair with a married white woman. 416 pp. He was a family friend, and the rumor was that hed been lynched for dating a white woman. Born on Oct. 27, 1941, McMillian grew up in one of several poor black settlements outside Monroeville. The visits from his family were the only thing getting him by in his time there. "[6][Notes 1][5] McMillian was represented by attorney J. L. Chestnut. Mr. McMillian was arrested, and in an extraordinary move, was immediately . It was too easy for one person to come into court and frame a man for a murder he didnt commit. McMillian's case served as a catalyst for Alabama's compensation statute, which was passed in 2001. "[3] Monroe County was described by The Guardian as "a remote, dirt-poor region of pine trees and bean farms". All he could do was sit there and listen as three witnesses for the prosecution lied in their testimonies. Several months later, police arrested 30-year-old Ralph Myers, a career criminal, on suspicion of murdering a woman in nearby Escambia County. He first encountered Walter while he was on death row (20). A week later, prosecutors dismissed the charges. 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. In 1998, he joined other survivors at a national conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty attended by more than 1,000 lawyers, law students, professors, and criminal justice reform advocates. During their first year together, they almost starved, with Walter working as a field hand for $14 per week. They had three children and lived in a dilapidated house in Repton, about 10 miles south of Monroeville. They separate after Walter's release, but she remains involved in his life and in his care during his long-term illness. Despite having various witnesses on his side, it seemed useless. The McMillian family: Walter McMillian had a family of believers. From 1990 to 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals turned down four appeals. It was founded in 2012 in conjunction with the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. Contact profile manager; View family tree; On February 23, 1993, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals reversed McMillians conviction and ordered a new trial. Bryan Stevenson, McMillian's defense attorney, raised awareness on the CBS News program 60 Minutes. [6] McMillian's conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal in 1991 in McMillian v. State, 594 So. This article was very sad and eye opening for the treatment of black men in a still prejudice south. Eventually, Myers gave a taped confession in which he said that he drove McMillian to the scene of the crime and that McMillian went into the building alone. And this case had given him lots of fodder. About $35 was missing. 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