Thursday, May 23, 2013

Willie Manning: Execution stayed, but his legal battles also continue on another front: "Judge denies new trial for Willie Manning in Starkville slayings." Clarion-Ledger.


STORY: "Judge denies new trial for Willie Jerome Manning in Starkville slayings, by the Associated Press, published by the Clarion-Ledger on May 21, 2013.

GIST:  "A judge has denied Willie Jerome Manning's request for a new trial in the 1993 slayings of a 90-year-old woman and her 60-year-old daughter in Starkville. Oktibbeha County Circuit Judge Lee Howard handed down his ruling Tuesday. Manning's attorney, Robert Mink, calls the ruling "astonishing" and says he'll appeal. Manning had been set for lethal injection May 7 in a separate case — the 1992 slayings of two Mississippi State University students. The state Supreme Court blocked the execution hours before it was scheduled. Justices didn't explain their action, but Manning had argued that DNA tests would prove him innocent."
The entire story can be found at:

http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20130521/NEWS01/130521028/Judge-denies-new-trial-Willie-Jerome-Manning-Starkville-slayings-

See "Another astonishing ruling," published by Justice For Willie Manning:  "On March 2, Willie Manning submitted a post-hearing memorandum challenging the constitutional validity of his convictions for the murders of two elderly ladies at their apartment in Brooksville Garden in 1993. This is the second of Willie’s two cases, and involved the same prosecutor as in his first case (Forrest Allgood). As mentioned in the previous post, the primary issues to be pursued in this case are: the State failed to disclose evidence favorable to Willie (it did not disclose crime lab notes about the shoe size of a print found at the murder scene, which was several sizes smaller than Willie’s shoes). the State presented false evidence (it did not disclose law enforcement notes showing that the key witness’s essential testimony was false, as the apartment where he claimed to have lived, and from where he stated that he observed Willie, was empty at the time). On Tuesday May 21, Oktibbeha County Circuit Judge Lee Howard denied Willie’s post-hearing memorandum in this case  (see Associated Press report carried by many newspapers e.g. San Francisco Chronicle and Greenwich Time). The report states, ‘In the ruling issued Tuesday, Howard wrote: “The court finds that Lucious’ testimony that he was threatened into testifying at the petitioner’s trial and that Allgood knew his testimony to be false is unreliable and should be given no weight in the present proceedings.”’ Willie’s attorney, Robert Mink, said he will appeal, as the prosecutors’ case against Manning was based on the testimony of an alleged eyewitness who later recanted. Mink is quoted as saying, “This is just astonishing”.

"Another astonishing ruling" can be found at:

http://justice4willie.com/2013/05/22/willie-manning-death-row-mississippi-another-astonishing-ruling/

Keep your eye on "The Charles Smith Blog,"  dear reader. We are following Willie Manning's cases.

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.