Justice, American style
by digby
Cuz' we just *know*:
Willie Manning is on death row in Mississippi, awaiting execution for the abduction and murder of two college students in 1992. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence, including the testimony of a jailhouse informant who had previously given a statement implicating another person. No physical evidence has ever linked Willie to the crime, and he has always maintained his innocence. He has been seeking DNA testing of crime scene evidence for years.
Incredibly, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that there is “overwhelming evidence of guilt,” so no DNA testing is needed. His execution has been set for May 7th. Eighteen men have been exonerated by DNA testing after being sentenced to death, including Kennedy Brewer of Mississippi.
Can you think of even one decent reason why we should not automatically test available DNA for all capital crimes? How can these people live with themselves?
But then our prison system is a nightmare generally and we are now openly exempting some people from even being tried because we just *know* they're dangerous but we don't have evidence to prove it. So it's fairly clear that our childhood teachings about justice and the American way have pretty much been shown to be vacuous bromides. Our justice system is a joke.
If you've a mind to try to help this man get a DNA test, you can click here to send a note to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to stay the execution and order one. It's incredible to me that he hasn't done it long ago.
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