Friday, May 3, 2013

Willie Manning: The Clarion-Ledger has the powerful, moving story of Kennedy Brewer, a former Mississippi death row inmate, exonerated in 2008, asking Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to test DNA in the Manning case.


STORY: "Former Miss. death row inmate, exonerated in 2008, asks governor to test DNA in Manning case," published by the Clarion-Ledger on May  3, 2013.

GIST: A former Mississippi death row inmate exonerated in 2008 has asked the governor to delay the execution of Willie Jerome Manning until DNA evidence is tested. “I am living proof that the courts sometimes just get the wrong man,” said Kennedy Brewer, who was wrongly convicted for the 1992 murder of his girlfriend’s 3 year old. The state will execute Manning at 6 p.m. Tuesday unless Gov. Phil Bryant grants him clemency. The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday refused to stop the execution of Manning, who asked for a delay in the execution to allow time for the court to reconsider testing DNA. Aided by the Innocence Project, Brewer became the first person in Mississippi to be exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing. Manning’s request argued the testing would show he didn’t kill two Mississippi State University students in December 1992, for which he received two death sentences.........In a 5-4 decision, though, the Supreme Court ruled April 24 that Manning failed to demonstrate reasonable probability that he would not have been convicted or would have received a lesser sentence if DNA results were favorable to him. The majority opinion said Manning’s conviction and sentence were based on substantially more evidence than the evidence he challenged, and “the absence of Manning’s DNA does not preclude his participation in the crimes charges.”"

The entire story  can be found at:

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130503/NEWS/305030053/Former-Miss-death-row-inmate-exonerated-2008-asks-governor-test-DNA-Manning-case

 PUBLISHER'S NOTE:

I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located  near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site. 

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.