ACLU and Innocence Project brief in support of man convicted of murdering two MSU students

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Two national civil rights groups say a man sentenced to death in the deaths of two Mississippi State University students three decades ago was falsely accused in another murder investigation led by the same sheriff.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Innocence Project filed an amicus brief on behalf of Willie Jerome Manning.

Manning received the death penalty in 1994 for the murders of Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler, two MSU students.

He is currently seeking a new hearing in the case, saying several witnesses crucial to his conviction have recanted their testimony.

Attorney General Lynn Fitch has asked the court to set an execution date.

Meanwhile, the ACLU and the Innocence Project allege that the sheriff who led the investigation tried to frame Manning for two additional murders, and that critical witnesses in the case also said the sheriff tried to bribe or threaten them when they didn't implicate Manning in the case.

“Mr. Manning never had the chance to prove his innocence even before he entered the courtroom,” the groups wrote. “The prosecution used every means short of a fair trial to create the perfect environment for the jury to convict. “

Manning was charged in connection with the 1993 deaths of Alberta Johnson and Emmoline Jimmerson.

According to court documents, the two were killed six weeks after Miller and Steckler. Law enforcement struggled to find the perpetrator and made no arrests until they received a tip implicating Manning.

That tip led authorities to Kevin Lucious, who was serving a life sentence in Missouri. Lucious initially testified: “He saw Manning enter the women's apartment shortly before their bodies were discovered… (and) that he had heard Mr. Manning make statements about needing money and that he wished he could.” would have done more to 'them' – a statement from the prosecution.” presented as a likely reference to the two victims.”

However, the ACLU states that Lucious later recanted that statement, stating that Sheriff Bryan and a Starkville police officer threatened him with prosecution if he did not sign the statement.

“There was further evidence of falsehoods – for example, following the discovery of the murder, police conducted a search of the apartment complex and also searched the apartment where Lucious allegedly lived when he claimed to have seen Mr. Manning entering the victim's apartment building .” was empty,” ACLU wrote.

“Further review of the case by the State revealed that it was a house of cards, brought down by both the suppressed results of the interview and evidence of an alternative suspect that the State had never revealed.”

In a filing in October, Manning's lawyers argued that several witnesses who testified against him in the Steckler and Miller murders had also recanted, including Earl Jordan, who said he was promised by the sheriff that he would “help him.” “ would if he gave in a statement.

Other witnesses in the Steckler and Miller cases have also recanted their statements, including Paula Hathorn. The woman, Manning's former girlfriend, said she was paid $17,000 and that several bad check charges were dropped in exchange for her testimony.

According to the ACLU and Innocence Project, race also played a role in Manning's conviction. The groups point to the composition of the jury, which included only two black jurors, even though a third of the jurors considered for the trial were African American.

They also point to statistics from the National Registry of Exonerations that show that of the 29 Mississippi defendants exonerated since 1989, 24 were black.

“Fifty-six percent of all defendants exonerated on murder charges are black. In comparison, whites, who make up 75.3 percent of the U.S. population, make up only 29 percent of exonerated defendants,” authorities wrote. “To make it even clearer, Black defendants convicted of murder are about 80 percent more likely to be innocent than other defendants convicted of the same crime.”

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