MSSC Justice Randolph blasts DOJ in Manning execution dissent
The Mississippi Supreme Court stayed the execution of Willie Jerome Manning, who was scheduled to die Tuesday night at 6 at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
Manning was convicted in 1994 of killing two Mississippi State students in front of the campus’ Sigma Chi fraternity house.
Justices voted 8-1 to issue the stay. Justice Michael Randolph, of Hattiesburg, dissented.
Randolph was critical of the court’s decision, writing that Manning had failed to comply with the statutory requirements attached to his claim that DNA testing on a hair found in one of the victim’s cars could possibly exonerate him. Randolph took particular issue with letters submitted with the hair analysis from the U.S. Department of Justice that were unsigned.
“The letters challenge not only former FBI experts in hair, but also ballistics. Our established law and justice require more,” Randolph wrote in his opinion.
Mississippi Business Journal
5/7/13
Magnolia Tribune
