ACLU and Innocence Project join fight to save Manning on MS death row

The cavalry arrives to help a man on death row urge the court to act on his behalf as the threat of execution looms.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Innocence Project and other organizations believe it is possible that Willie Jerome Manning is innocent in the 1992 murders of two Mississippi State University students, but his search for new evidence has repeatedly heard him rebuffed .

Manning was sentenced to death in 1994 for the murders of Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler, but he has always said he did not commit the crimes.

The organizations asked the state Supreme Court on Monday and Tuesday whether they could step in as friends of the court.

Some of the “new” evidence is 10 years old, but he has fought for that long to get his day in court. A witness who testified against Manning in court later recanted his testimony, saying it had been coerced.

In addition, a firearms expert examined the weapon allegedly used in the murder and said it could not be conclusively determined that it was actually the weapon used in the crime.

Add to that the exonerations of at least six people convicted of violent crimes under former 16th Circuit District Attorney Forrest Allgood, and that could raise reasonable doubt.

Now the Innocence Project, ACLU and others are joining the fight to determine whether Manning's innocence can actually be proven before an execution date is set.

“We are grateful for the amici support,” said Krissy Nobile, director of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel. “Their commitment demonstrates awareness of the unreliability of Manning’s conviction and death sentence.”

Despite the new evidence, Manning was not given an opportunity to have the new information presented to a court. At the same time, the state's attorney general, Lynn Fitch, is pushing for an execution date for Manning.

The ACLU said in its proposed brief, in addition to the testimony and opinion of a firearms expert as well as the retracted testimony, that former District Attorney Forrest Allgood had a spotty track record that led to at least six overturned convictions, including several death sentences for felonies they have not committed themselves.

“Allgood has accumulated a string of misconduct and overturned convictions throughout his tenure and has been repeatedly held accountable by this court,” the ACLU wrote.

In the Innocence Project's request to file a brief on Manning's behalf with the state Supreme Court, the organization hoped that its involvement would open the possibility that the court would reverse its recent decision to deny Manning further relief.

“Most significant to this court's consideration is the Innocence Project's involvement in three exonerations in Mississippi that were brought by the same prosecutor and based on the same flawed evidence as the plaintiff's case,” said an attorney acting on behalf of the Innocence Project and of the Innocence Project of Mississippi works. “Given its extensive experience litigating wrongful conviction cases, particularly in Mississippi, and its institutional knowledge of the key factors contributing to wrongful convictions, the Innocence Project is in a unique position to present facts important to the plaintiff's case, which might otherwise escape the notice of this court.”

Lici Beveridge is a reporter for the Hattiesburg American and Clarion Ledger. Contact them at[email protected]. Keep following herX @licibevorFacebookatfacebook.com/licibeveridge.

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