Death Row Inmate’s Request for DNA Testing Is Rejected
Willie J. Manning, who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday in Mississippi, has been repeatedly rebuffed as he sought to have crime scene evidence tested.
Read The New York Times article here: http://nyti.ms/1296221
Willie Manning, Mississippi Death Row Inmate, Denied DNA Test; Execution Set For Tuesday
Posted: 05/05/2013 10:16 am EDT | Updated: 05/05/2013 10:33 am EDT
Convicted double murderer Willie Jerome Manning, who has been on death row for nearly two decades, is set to be executed Tuesday, after being denied a DNA test that could save him from the execution chamber, the New York Times reports.
In a 5-to-4 decision in April, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that there was “conclusive, overwhelming evidence of guilty” and that DNA tests would not “preclude his participation in the crimes,” according to the Times.
Justice Dept. admits flaws in forensic testimony in Mississippi death-row case
The Justice Department has acknowledged flaws in forensic testimony by the FBI that helped convict a man in the 1992 slayings of two Mississippi State University students, and federal officials have now offered to retest the DNA in the case.
The extraordinary admission and offer come just days before the man is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday and present a quandary for Mississippi officials about whether to stop the execution of Willie Jerome Manning, 44.
Manning’s lawyers asked Gov. Phil Bryant (R) for a stay. Bryant spokesman Mick Bullock said in a written statement Friday that the governor is reviewing the facts of the case.
Mississippi Inmate’s Bid for DNA Tests Is Denied With Tuesday Execution Set
May 3, 2013
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
The State of Mississippi has denied requests for DNA testing of evidence made by a prisoner set to be executed on Tuesday, potentially setting up what experts said would be a rare case in recent years in which a person is put to death with such requests unmet.
The Mississippi Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, ruled in April that the existing evidence tying Willie Jerome Manning to the murder of two college students in 1992 was so strong that the findings of DNA tests would not make a difference.
