Mississippi Today
Supreme Court 5-4 decision paves way for Willie Jerome Manning’s execution
Willie Jerome Manning, sentenced to death for the murder of two Mississippi State University students 30 years ago, “has had his days in court” and now an execution date can be set, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Monday.
“Petitioner has had more than a full measure of justice,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in the majority opinion joined by justices James Maxwell II, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis.
“(Victims) Tiffany Miller and Jon Steckler have not. Their families have not. The citizens of Mississippi have not. Finality of justice is of great import in all cases.”
The court wrote that unnecessary and unjustified delays affect justice and fairness owed to victims and defendants, and the Mississippi Constitution directs the court to balance the rights of both.
Justices James Kitchens, Leslie King, Josiah Colemen and Robert Chamberlin did not agree and joined a dissent order.
This paves the way for the court to set Manning’s execution. Within 21 days after an entry of judgment and issue of a mandate to the trial court, the state will be able to proceed. That timeline could be delayed if there is a rehearing, which Manning’s attorneys have said they plan to pursue.
Krissy Nobile, executive director of the Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, reiterated Tuesday that an execution date has not been set for her client Manning and the case will remain open until the court issues a mandate.
Last year, Lynn Fitch’s office asked the court to set execution dates for him and Robert Simon Jr., who was convicted for the murder of members of a Quitman County family in 1990. Another stay blocked execution until the court considered Manning’s petition for post-conviction relief.
The state tried to set his execution in 2013, which was blocked by a stay. The court allowed Manning to seek DNA and fingerprint testing, but after six years the results were inconclusive.
In its order, the state Supreme Court found multiple procedural bars prevented it from considering Manning’s petition.
Manning filed a petition for post-conviction relief in September 2023, and in it he maintained his innocence and raised new evidence about recanted testimony from three people and questionable firearms evidence used in his case.
The court didn’t accept arguments about newly discovered evidence, ruling his claims were already raised in previous petitions and rejected.
Attorneys presented evidence about recanted testimony from Earl Jordan, Manning’s cousin, who was in jail with him who said in court Manning confessed to killing the students.
“In the last twenty-six years, a majority of this court has never held that the evidence at trial was anything but overwhelming,” the order states. “Jordan’s recanted testimony would not have changed the verdict.”
Manning also presented a 2013 affidavit from a firearms expert that raised doubt about the scientific validity of firearms examinations and conclusions from them.
Under Brady v. Maryland, it is a violation if the state fails to provide a defendant or their defense attorneys with evidence that can be favorable or helpful to their case. The court said Manning’s claims of Brady violations through the recanted testimony have already been rejected in previous applications for post conviction relief.
In an updated version of his petition, Manning argued the court is able to make exceptions to procedural bars like it did in two other death penalty cases, which the court denied in its order.
In a four-page dissent, Kitchens wrote the court “perverts its function as an appellate court and makes factual determinations that belong squarely within the purview of the circuit court.”
If the court finds an important witness like Jordan recanted testimony and offers a reason for giving false testimony at trial, defendants are entitled to an evidentiary hearing to find whether the witness lied at trial or in an affidavit. Kitchens writes that this did not happen for Manning but has happened in other cases.
The court should remand the case to the circuit court for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether there could be a different outcome without Jordan’s testimony and the truthfulness and timeliness of his recantation, the dissent order states.
“Only then should this court consider — under the appropriate standard of review — the merits of Manning’s request for post-conviction relief,” Kitchens wrote.
In 2015, Manning was exonerated of the 1993 murders of two women in Starkville.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1875
Nov. 2, 1875
The first Mississippi Plan, which included violence against Black Americans to keep them from voting, resulted in huge victories for white Democrats across the state.
A year earlier, the Republican Party had carried a majority of the votes, and many Black Mississippians had been elected to office. In the wake of those victories, white leagues arose to challenge Republican rule and began to use widespread violence and fraud to recapture control of the state.
Over several days in September 1875, about 50 Black Mississippians were killed along with white supporters, including a school teacher who worked with the Black community in Clinton.
The governor asked President Ulysses Grant to intervene, but he decided against intervening, and the violence and fraud continued. Other Southern states soon copied the Mississippi plan.
John R. Lynch, the last Black congressman for Mississippi until the 1986 election of Mike Espy, wrote: “It was a well-known fact that in 1875 nearly every Democratic club in the State was converted into an armed military company.”
A federal grand jury concluded: “Fraud, intimidation, and violence perpetrated at the last election is without a parallel in the annals of history.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Mississippi Today’s NewsMatch Campaign is Here: Support Journalism that Strengthens Mississippi
High-quality journalism like ours depends on reader support; without it, we simply couldn’t exist. That’s why we’re proud to join the NewsMatch movement, a national initiative aimed at raising $50 million for nonprofit newsrooms that serve communities like ours here in Mississippi, where access to reliable information has often been limited.
In a time when trusted journalists and media sources are disappearing, we believe the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without on-the-ground, trustworthy reporting, civic engagement suffers, accountability falters and corruption often goes unaddressed. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Here at Mississippi Today we act as watchdogs, holding those in power accountable, and as storytellers, giving a platform to voices that have been ignored for too long. And we’re committed to keeping our stories free for everyone because information should be accessible when it’s needed most.
Why NewsMatch and Why Now?
This year’s NewsMatch campaign runs from November 1 through December 31, giving us a special opportunity to make each dollar you give go even further. Through matching funds provided by local foundations like the Maddox Foundation, and national funders like the MacArthur Foundation, the Rural Partner Fund and the Hewlett Foundation, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $1,000. Plus, if 100 new donors join us, we’ll unlock an additional $2,000 in funding, bringing us even closer to our goal. Boiled down: your donation goes four times as far.
Every dollar raised strengthens our ability to serve you with fact-based journalism on issues that impact your everyday life—whether it’s covering local election issues or reporting on decisions affecting schools, safety and economic growth in Mississippi. Your support makes it possible for us to stay rooted in the community, offering nuanced perspectives that help Mississippians understand and engage with what’s happening around them.
Special Event: “Freedom of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact”
As part of the campaign, we’re excited to host a special virtual event, “Freedom of the Press: Southern Challenges, National Impact.” Join Deep South Today newsrooms Mississippi Today and Verite News, along with national experts on press freedom, for an in-depth discussion on the unique challenges facing journalists in the Deep South. This one-hour session will explore the critical role local newsrooms play in holding power accountable, highlighting recent restrictions on press freedom such as Louisiana’s “25-foot law,” which affects journalists’ ability to report vital news.
We’ll examine what’s at stake if local newsrooms lose press freedoms and will discuss how you, as members of the public, can help protect it. This event is open to Mississippi Today and Verite News members as a special thank-you for supporting local journalism and standing with us in this mission. Donate today to RSVP!
How You Can Help
Make Your Gift Today
Together, let’s ensure Mississippi has the robust, independent journalism it needs to thrive. Your support fuels our ability to expose the truth, elevate marginalized stories and build a more informed Mississippi.
Thank you for believing in the power of journalism to strengthen the communities we love—not only during election season but year-round. With your help, we’ll keep Mississippi informed, engaged and connected for generations to come.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Hinds County loses fight over control of jail
The Hinds County sheriff and Board of Supervisors have lost an appeal to prevent control of its jail by a court-appointed receiver and an injunction that orders the county to address unconstitutional conditions in the facility.
Two members from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with decisions by U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to appoint a receiver to oversee day-to-day jail operations and keep parts of a previous consent decree in place to fix constitutional violations, including a failure to protect detainees from harm.
However, the appeals court called the new injunction “overly broad” in one area and is asking Reeves to reevaluate the scope of the receivership.
The injunction retained provisions relating to sexual assault, but the appeals court found the provisions were tied to general risk of violence at the jail, rather than specific concerns about the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The court reversed those points of the injunction and remanded them to the district court so the provisions can be removed.
The court also found that the receiver should not have authority over budgeting and staff salaries for the Raymond Detention Center, which could be seen as “federal intrusion into RDC’s budget” – especially if the receivership has no end date.
Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Robert Graham was not immediately available for comment Friday. Sheriff Tyree Jones declined to comment because he has not yet read the entire court opinion.
In 2016, the Department of Justice sued Hinds County alleging a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conditions in four of its detention facilities. The county and DOJ entered a consent decree with stipulated changes to make for the jail system, which holds people facing trial.
“But the decree did not resolve the dispute; to the contrary, a yearslong battle ensued in the district court as to whether and to what extent the County was complying with the consent decree,” the appeals court wrote.
This prompted Reeves to hold the county in contempt of court twice in 2022.
The county argued it was doing its best to comply with the consent decree and spending millions to fix the jail. One of the solutions they offered was building a new jail, which is now under construction in Jackson.
The county had a chance to further prove itself during three weeks of hearings held in February 2022. Focuses included the death of seven detainees in 2021 from assaults and suicide and issues with staffing, contraband, old infrastructure and use of force.
Seeing partial compliance by the county, in April 2022 Reeves dismissed the consent decree and issued a new, shorter injunction focused on the jail and removed some provisions from the decree.
But Reeves didn’t see improvement from there. In July 2022, he ordered receivership and wrote that it was needed because of an ongoing risk of unconstitutional harm to jail detainees and staff.
The county pushed back against federal oversight and filed an appeal, arguing that there isn’t sufficient evidence to show that there are current and ongoing constitutional violations at the jail and that the county has acted with deliberate indifference.
Days before the appointed receiver was set to take control of the jail at the beginning of 2023, the 5th Circuit Court ordered a stay to halt that receiver’s work. The new injunction ordered by Reeves was also stayed, and a three-person jail monitoring team that had been in place for years also was ordered to stop work.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
-
Kaiser Health News4 days ago
Vance Wrongly Blames Rural Hospital Closures on Immigrants in the Country Illegally
-
SuperTalk FM5 days ago
Tupelo teen Leigh Occhi declared dead after going missing 32 years ago
-
News from the South - Georgia News Feed4 days ago
Co-defendant takes plea deal in YSL RICO trial | FOX 5 News
-
Mississippi News Video4 days ago
Free Clinic of Meridian Celebrates 10 Years
-
Our Mississippi Home6 days ago
Nothing Is More Southern Than Black Eyed Peas
-
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed6 days ago
Wake County father killed in motorcycle crash
-
News from the South - Missouri News Feed6 days ago
Page warns seniors about property tax freeze sign-up events
-
News from the South - Texas News Feed7 days ago
NASA astronaut who was hospitalized after returning from space has been released