STORY: "Why does the state still want to kill William Jerome Manning?," by R.L. Nave, published by the Jackson Free Press on April 29, 2015.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Willie Jerome Manning was recently exonerated in the murders of two Starkville women in 1992. Now, will the discredited science used to convict him in a separate case, in which he has always maintained his innocence, lead to his freedom?"
GIST: "Although the Miller-Steckler murder certainly matched the Jordan-Jimmerson slayings in heinousness, many believe the evidence against Manning's involvement is just as shaky if not more so. The week of his scheduled execution, the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted that its forensic expert erred in testimony during Manning's original trial. In a letter to Allgood, who prosecuted Manning, U.S. Justice Department officials stated "that testimony containing erroneous statements regarding microscopic hair comparison analysis was used" in Manning's case. The Mississippi Supreme Court halted the execution over objections from Hood. Since then, the science of hair comparison and law enforcement's reliance on it to obtain convictions, including of Manning, has come under scrutiny. A recent analysis by The Washington Post concluded that the FBI's hair analysis was used in thousands of cases. Last week, the Justice Department and FBI admitted that the practice went on for two decades despite the existence of data questioning the veracity of hair testing, which involves comparing hair samples under a microscope. Information from The Innocence Project shows that of the 329 wrongful convictions that DNA evidence has helped reverse, some 20 percent of them also involved hair analysis. Tucker Carrington, founding director of the Mississippi Innocence Project and law professor at the University of Mississippi, told the Daily Beast last week that he believes the state wrote Manning off a long time ago and had no interest in seeing that he received justice. "'Who gives a f*ck about this guy? He's already condemned. We know he's the type of person who's capable of doing this. It's him,'" Carrington said they thought. The FBI has offered to conduct DNA testing in the Steckler-Miller case on Manning's behalf. Voisin, Manning's attorney in both cases, said several items have been sent to a lab in Houston, Texas, for analysis. (Hood has said that no serological evidence from the victims' fingernail scrapings or semen on the vaginal swabs from the rape test kit exists for a DNA test to identify). Voisin said the timing of the testing and issuing of results is up to the lab and the FBI. In the meantime, an effective moratorium on the death penalty has been in place for two years in Mississippi due to problems with prosecutions and execution procedures."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Willie Jerome Manning was recently exonerated in the murders of two Starkville women in 1992. Now, will the discredited science used to convict him in a separate case, in which he has always maintained his innocence, lead to his freedom?"
GIST: "Although the Miller-Steckler murder certainly matched the Jordan-Jimmerson slayings in heinousness, many believe the evidence against Manning's involvement is just as shaky if not more so. The week of his scheduled execution, the Federal Bureau of Investigation admitted that its forensic expert erred in testimony during Manning's original trial. In a letter to Allgood, who prosecuted Manning, U.S. Justice Department officials stated "that testimony containing erroneous statements regarding microscopic hair comparison analysis was used" in Manning's case. The Mississippi Supreme Court halted the execution over objections from Hood. Since then, the science of hair comparison and law enforcement's reliance on it to obtain convictions, including of Manning, has come under scrutiny. A recent analysis by The Washington Post concluded that the FBI's hair analysis was used in thousands of cases. Last week, the Justice Department and FBI admitted that the practice went on for two decades despite the existence of data questioning the veracity of hair testing, which involves comparing hair samples under a microscope. Information from The Innocence Project shows that of the 329 wrongful convictions that DNA evidence has helped reverse, some 20 percent of them also involved hair analysis. Tucker Carrington, founding director of the Mississippi Innocence Project and law professor at the University of Mississippi, told the Daily Beast last week that he believes the state wrote Manning off a long time ago and had no interest in seeing that he received justice. "'Who gives a f*ck about this guy? He's already condemned. We know he's the type of person who's capable of doing this. It's him,'" Carrington said they thought. The FBI has offered to conduct DNA testing in the Steckler-Miller case on Manning's behalf. Voisin, Manning's attorney in both cases, said several items have been sent to a lab in Houston, Texas, for analysis. (Hood has said that no serological evidence from the victims' fingernail scrapings or semen on the vaginal swabs from the rape test kit exists for a DNA test to identify). Voisin said the timing of the testing and issuing of results is up to the lab and the FBI. In the meantime, an effective moratorium on the death penalty has been in place for two years in Mississippi due to problems with prosecutions and execution procedures."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2015/apr/29/why-does-state-still-want-kill-willie-jerome-manni/
See Innocence Project release: Willie Manning has spent over 20 years on death row in Mississippi for two double-murders which he has consistently maintained he did not commit. In 2013, the FBI announced that their expert gave testimony in one of Manning’s cases containing erroneous statements regarding microscopic hair comparison analysis. The announcement prompted the state to halt Manning’s execution only five days before it was scheduled to take place.
Last week, a judge threw out the other murder cases. A key
witness—Kevin Lucious—had told police he saw Manning enter the victims'
apartment from his own apartment, but police found that the apartment
where Lucious claimed to live was vacant at the time of the crime. The
building manager also did not have him listed as a resident. However,
Manning remains on death row, awaiting possible execution for the other
set of murders. To compensate for their erroneous testimony, the FBI offered to
conduct DNA testing on Manning’s behalf. Manning’s attorney says that
several items have been sent to a lab in Houston for analysis. It is not
known how long the testing will take. Meanwhile, Mississippi has halted all scheduled executions in the
state due to concerns over execution procedures. This month, two death
row inmates filed a lawsuit arguing that the risks of excruciating pain
and torture during an execution violates their constitutional protection
from cruel and unusual punishment."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
