COMMENTARY: "The Willie Manning case highlights why the death penalty must end," by David A. Love, published by The Grio on May 7, 2013. David A. Love is the Executive Director of Witness to Innocence, a national nonprofit organization that empowers exonerated death row prisoners and their family members to become effective leaders in the movement to abolish the death penalty. Wikipedia informs us that "the Grio" is an American website with news and video content geared particularly toward African Americans, and was launched in June 2009 as a division of NBC News.[It was founded by the team who created the documentary film Meeting David Wilson."
GIST: "Unless the governor of Mississippi intervenes, the Magnolia State will execute Willie Jerome Manning tonight. Manning, who is black, was convicted in 1992 of abducting and killing two white college students and sentenced to death. He wants to prove his innocence through DNA testing, but the courts won’t allow him. This case tells you much of what you need to know about the death penalty in America, why it does not work, why it never will work, and why we need to put the brakes on it now......... On April 25, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld Manning’s conviction in a close 5-4 decision, and denied his requests for DNA testing. “Our examination anew of the record reveals that conclusive, overwhelming evidence of guilt was presented to the jury,” wrote Presiding Justice Michael K. Randolph for the majority. Justice James W. Kitchens, one of the four dissenting judges, wrote that “The victims’ families and the public at large deserve to know whether another, or an additional perpetrator was involved. If such a person can be identified, he or she should be prosecuted. Further examination of the fingerprints and biological evidence in this case could help achieve that end and/or significantly reinforce the basis for Manning’s conviction.” Justice Kitchens added, “Interests far beyond Manning’s are at stake, and whatever the potential harm the denial seeks to assert is surely outweighed by the benefits of ensuring justice by the scientific analysis of all of the trace evidence that the authorities were able to collect from on or about the victims’ bodies. Unless and until that is done, the investigation of these horrible crimes will remain incomplete.”
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.