Defense: Hair sample in question in death row inmate’s pending execution
PARCHMAN, Miss. - Attorneys for a death row inmate convicted of killing two college students in 1992 are hoping that a hair sample holds the key to exonerating their client...
But people who know Manning, whom they call “Fly” said he is innocent and doesn’t deserve to die.
“I’ve never known Willie ‘Fly’ Manning to hurt nobody,” long time activist and Starkville resident Dorothy Bishop, told WCBI.
Bishop and a handful of supporters protested outside the Oktibbeha County Courthouse Monday holding signs that said: “Thou Should Not Kill Willie ‘Fly’ Manning.”
But county officials who worked the case said evidence links Manning to Steckler and Manning, as well as to 60-year-old Emmoline Jimmerson and her mother, 90-year-old Alberta Jordan who were found dead a month later in their Brooksville Gardens apartment on Jan. 18, 1993.
“A girlfriend that Manning dated said she saw him shoot a gun into a tree at his momma’s house,” Oktibbeha County Sheriff Dolph Bryan told WCBI TV. “We got a search warrant, went and took the bullets out of that tree and they were a 100 percent match. I don’t like to think about killing somebody because it’s a horrible thing. But Willie Jerome Manning worked hard for his death sentence. He’s killed at least four people and I’m not sure that’s all he’s killed.”
‘Conclusive, overwhelming evidence’
In its 5-4 ruling on April 25, the Supreme Court said there was “conclusive, overwhelming evidence of guilt” against Manning presented to an Oktibbeha County jury in the case of Steckler and Miller.
Witnesses at the apartment complex of Jimmerson and Jordan testified they saw Manning enter the women’s apartment and he was later seen running up a hill.
Both women had been robbed, beaten about the head with an iron, and their throats were slashed from the front to the backbone.
“There is no doubt in my mind that he was guilty of all four murders,” Chief Deputy George Carritthers told WCBI. “This case should have come to an end years ago.”
“I don’t understand why it takes so long to get to this point,” Allgood said. “The DNA was on the radar then because the FBI lab did some DNA testing on some of the articles. If that is in the crime lab report the Defense has got everything we’ve got. They have to know that. They have to know what articles were out there. They have to know what could have been tested and not tested. And you just wonder how it gets to the point where you’re literally hours away from a huge act and no one brought this up before.”
According to prison officials, Manning was moved to a holding cell next to the execution room on Sunday, and the prison was placed on lockdown on Monday. A spokesman with the Mississippi Department of Corrections said the mood of the inmates prior to an execution is usually “somber” and agitated.
Tuesday morning, the day of the execution, Manning will meet with his attorneys to see if the governor or the Supreme Court will rule in his favor. State officials said it could happen, but that outcome seems unlikely.
“I don’t want anybody out there to think the state of Mississippi wouldn’t pay for DNA testing if it would make a difference. In this case it wouldn’t,” Hood said.
Neither the Manning or Steckler families are commenting on Tuesday’s scheduled execution, but a spokesman said all they want is closure.
Monica Land is a theGrio contributor and a reporter for Mississippilink.com.
