PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Given the allegations we’ve made and the proof we’ve submitted, we would hope the Court would either grant relief outright or grant an evidentiary hearing where we can present the evidence to a trial judge,” Mr. Manning’s attorney, David Voisin, told the Mississippi Free Press." In 2015, Mr. Manning was exonerated of an unrelated crime, for which he had also been sentenced to death."
RELEASE: "Mississippi Supreme Court Delays Decision on Willie Manning Execution Date, Allows Time for Appeal," published by 'The Death Penalty Information Center', on December 7, 2023.
GIST: On November 30, 2023, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered that the state’s request to set an execution date for death row prisoner Willie Manning be held until the court rules on a recent petition seeking to bring new evidence of Mr. Manning’s innocence.
Mr. Manning’s attorneys had filed a petition at the court on September 29, asking for an opportunity to present recantations from jailhouse informants who testified against Mr. Manning, as well as new expert analysis debunking the unscientific forensic evidence that was used against him at trial.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has admitted that the analysis used in Mr. Manning’s trial was flawed.
Mr. Manning, who is Black, was convicted in 1994 for the murders of two white Mississippi State University students.
At his trial, an FBI agent testified that hairs found in one of the victim’s vehicles came from a Black person.
The prosecutor referred to that testimony in his closing argument, saying that it implicated Mr. Manning because of his race.
The FBI agent also gave ballistics testimony that the FBI said in 2013 was seriously flawed.
The prosecution also presented testimony from jailhouse informants who claimed that Mr. Manning had confessed to the crime.
The order from the Mississippi Supreme Court temporarily delays the state’s request for an execution date, which was filed on November 3.
It requires the state to respond to Mr. Manning’s petition by December 29, and then allows fifteen days for his attorneys to reply.
The court will not set an execution date until it has ruled on the case.
“Given the allegations we’ve made and the proof we’ve submitted, we would hope the Court would either grant relief outright or grant an evidentiary hearing where we can present the evidence to a trial judge,” Mr. Manning’s attorney, David Voisin, told the Mississippi Free Press.
In 2015, Mr. Manning was exonerated of an unrelated crime, for which he had also been sentenced to death."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html 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;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014
