Just Mercy (48 page)
Authors: Bryan Stevenson
3
Nearly one in five prison …
The category of “serious mental illness” includes schizophrenia, schizophrenia spectrum disorder, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, brief psychotic disorder, delusional disorder, and psychotic disorders not otherwise specified. This is distinguished from the more general category of “mental illness,” which encompasses serious mental illness as well as other forms of mental illness. E. Fuller Torrey, Aaron D. Kennard, Don Eslinger, Richard Lamb, and James Pavle, “More Mentally Ill Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospitals: A Survey of the States,” Treatment Advocacy Center (May 2010), available at
www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/storage/documents/final_jails_v_hospitals_study.pdf
, accessed July 2, 2013.
4
In fact, there are more than three …
Torrey et al., “More Mentally Ill Persons,” 1.
5
They began squabbling with each other …
The dispute is discussed in George’s subsequent appeals.
Daniel v
.
State
, 459 So. 2d 944 (Ala. Crim. App. 1984);
Daniel v
.
Thigpen
, 742 F. Supp. 1535 (M.D. Ala. 1990).
6
George was convicted …
Daniel v
.
State
, 459 So. 2d 944 (Ala. Crim. App. 1984).
7
We eventually won a favorable ruling …
Daniel v
.
Thigpen
, 742 F. Supp. 1535 (M.D. Ala. 1990).
8
Confederate Memorial Day was declared a state holiday …
Confederate Memorial Day was first celebrated in Alabama in 1901. See
The World Almanac and Encyclopedia 1901
(New York: Press Publishing Co., 1901), 29; “Confederate Memorial Day,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, available at
www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1663
, accessed April 28, 2014. The holiday remains in the state code today. Ala. Code § 1-3-8.
9
When black veterans returned …
The 1948 platform of the Dixiecrat party stated, in part: “We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose one’s associates; to accept private employment without governmental interference, and to earn one’s living in any lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program.” “Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party, August 14, 1948,” The American Presidency Project, available at
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25851#axzz1iGn93BZz
, accessed April 28, 2014.
10
In fact, it was in the 1950s …
Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina all began to fly the Confederate battle flag in symbolic opposition to the
Brown
decision. James Forman Jr., “Driving Dixie Down: Removing the Confederate Flag from Southern State Capitols,”
Yale Law Journal
101 (1991): 505.
1
In a landmark ruling
,
New York Times v
.
Sullivan
…
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).
2
When he was first arrested …
Several local newspapers highlighted the sodomy charge. Mary Lett, “McMillian Is Charged with Sodomy,”
Monroe Journal
(June 18, 1987); “Myers Files Sodomy Charges Against McMillan [
sic
],”
Evergreen Courant
(June 18, 1987); Bob Forbish, “Accused Murderer Files Sodomy Charges Against His Accomplice,”
Brewton Standard
(June 13–14, 1987).
3
“Those entering the courtroom”…
Dianne Shaw, “McMillian Sentenced to Death,”
Monroe Journal
(September 22, 1988).
4
Despite all of the evidence …
On the same day it published an article on the ongoing hearings in the McMillian case, the
Mobile Press Register
reminded readers in another article that Walter McMillian had been arrested and charged with the Pittman murder. Connie Baggett, “Ronda Wasn’t Only Girl Killed,”
Mobile Press Register
(July 5, 1992). A
Monroe Journal
article about the McMillian proceedings also mentioned Walter McMillian’s indictment in the Pittman murder.
Marilyn Handley, “Tape About Murder Played at Hearing for the First Time,”
Monroe Journal
(April 23, 1992).
5
“Convicted Slayer Wanted in East Brewton”…“Convicted Slayer Wanted in EB Student Murder,”
Brewton Standard
(August 22, 1988).
6
“Myers and McMillian were part”…
Connie Baggett, “Infamous Murder Leaves Questions,”
Mobile Press Register
(July 5, 1992).
7
“Too many of these [out-of-town] writers”…
Editorial, “ ‘60 Minutes’ Comes to Town,”
Monroe Journal
(June 25, 1992).
8
The
Journal
added that Chapman offered …
Marilyn Handley, “CBS Examines Murder Case,”
Monroe Journal
(July 8, 1992).
9
The local writers complained …
Connie Baggett, “DA: TV Account of McMillian’s Conviction a ‘Disgrace,’ ”
Mobile Press Register
(November 24, 1992).
10
The attorney general’s motion …
Motion from State to Hold Case in Abeyance,
McMillian v. State
, 616 So. 2d 933 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993), filed February 3, 1993.
11
But Havel had said that these …
Václav Havel, “Never Hope Against Hope,”
Esquire
(October 1993), 68.
1
Cook, who worked at the elementary school …
State v. Colbey
, 2007 WL 7268919 (Ala. Cir. Ct. 2007) (No. 2005-538), 824.
2
Enstice had a history of prematurely …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1576.
3
The pathologist subsequently performed an autopsy …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1511–21.
4
She not only concluded …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1584.
5
In fact, nationwide, most women …
“Case Summaries for Current Female Death Row Inmates.” Death Penalty Information Center, available at
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/case-summaries-current-female-death-row-inmates
, accessed August 13, 2013.
6
She testified that her conclusion …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1585.
7
Dr. McNally testified that Mrs. Colbey’s …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1129, 1133.
8
Enstice’s conclusion was …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1607.
9
Police investigators went into her home …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1210, 1271, 1367.
10
Ms. Colbey consistently maintained …
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 1040, 1060.
11
Ms. Colbey rejected the State’s offer …
Supplemental Record at
State v. Colbey
, 155.
12
Time
magazine called the prosecution …
John Cloud, “How the Casey Anthony Murder Case Became the Social-Media Trial of the Century,”
Time
(June 16, 2011).
13
The criminalization of infant mortality …
This phenomenon of charging women, particularly poor women and women of color, who give birth to stillborn babies or children who live only a short time, now seems commonplace to a casual observer of current events. Michelle Oberman, “The Control of Pregnancy and the Criminalization of Femaleness,”
Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law, and Justice
7 (2013): 1; Ada Calhoun, “The Criminalization of Bad Mothers,”
New York Times
(April 25, 2012).
14
This new information led the prosecutor …
Stephanie Taylor, “Murder Charge Dismissed in 2006 Newborn Death,”
Tuscaloosa News
(April 9, 2009).
15
We won her freedom after establishing …
Carla Crowder, “1,077 Days Later, Legal Tangle Ends; Woman Free,”
Birmingham News
(July 18, 2002).
16
In time, the Alabama Supreme Court …
Ex parte Ankrom, 2013 WL 135748 (Ala. January 11, 2013); Ex parte Hicks, No. 1110620 (Ala. April 18, 2014).
17
Some jurors indicated that they found …
Supplemental Record,
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 516–17, 519–20, 552.
18
Several revealed that they had …
Supplemental Record,
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 426–27, 649.
19
Another juror admitted trusting …
Supplemental Record,
State v. Colbey
, 2007, 674.
20
Approximately 75 to 80 percent …
Angela Hattery and Earl Smith,
Prisoner Reentry and Social Capital: The Long Road to Reintegration
(Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2010).
1
Joe was made to say in court …
D
EFENSE
C
OUNSEL
: All right. If you can’t identify me, then I may not have to kill you.
D
EFENDANT
: If you cannot identify me, I maybe won’t kill you.
W
ITNESS
: It sounds—there’s a tone in your voice that’s just like that, only
you said it very loud to me that time
in a belligerent way.
P
ROSECUTOR
: I don’t want to argue about it. Are you able to say that’s the voice of the person?
W
ITNESS
: There’s a tone in that voice that makes me know its that person.
P
ROSECUTOR
: So you are saying the person who just spoke to you is the person that said that to you that day?
W
ITNESS
:
It sounds like the voice
.
P
ROSECUTOR
: All right.
W
ITNESS
: It’s been six months.
It’s hard, but it does sound similar
. But it’s
said in a different way. See, the tone—it was said to me very belligerent in a loud voice.
Tr. I 86–88 (emphasis added).
2
Despite numerous potentially meritorious grounds …
See
Anders v. California
, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967). The brief asserted that counsel could perceive no issues worthy of appellate consideration.
3
“A rapid and dramatic increase”…
Brief of Petitioner,
Sullivan v. Florida
, U.S. Supreme Court (2009). Charles Geier and Beatriz Luna, “The Maturation of Incentive Processing and Cognitive Control,”
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
93 (2009): 212; see also L. P. Spear, “The Adolescent Brain and Age-Related Behavioral Manifestations,”
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
24 (2000): 417 (“[A]dolescence is of its essence, a period of transitions rather than a moment of attainment.”); also 434 (discussing radical hormonal changes in adolescence). Laurence Steinberg et al., “Age Differences in Sensation Seeking and Impulsivity as Indexed by Behavior and Self-Report,”
Develpmental Psychology
44 (2008): 1764; Laurence Steinberg, “Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice,”
Annual Review of Clinical Psychology
5 (2009): 459, 466.
4
We argued in court that, relative to …
See B. Luna, “The Maturation of Cognitive Control and the Adolescent Brain,” in
From Attention to Goal-Directed Behavior
, ed. F. Aboitiz and D. Cosmelli (New York: Springer, 2009), 249, 252–56 (cognitive functions that underlie decision-making are undeveloped in early teens: processing speed, response inhibition, and working memory do not reach maturity until about the age of fifteen); Elizabeth Cauffman and Laurence Steinberg, “(Im)maturity of Judgment in Adolescence: Why Adolescents May Be Less Culpable than Adults,”
Behavioral Science and Law
18 (2000): 741, 756 (significant gains in psychosocial maturity take place after the age of sixteen); Leon Mann et al., “Adolescent Decision-Making,”
Journal of Adolescence
12 (1989): 265, 267–70 (thirteen-year-olds show less knowledge, lower self-esteem as decision-makers, produce less choice options, and are less inclined to consider consequences than fifteen-year-olds); Jari-Erik Nurmi, “How Do Adolescents See Their Future? A Review of the Development of Future Orientation and Planning,”
Develpmental Review
11 (1991): 1, 12 (planning based on anticipatory knowledge, problem definition, and strategy selection used more frequently by older adolescents than younger ones).
5
“the products of an environment”…
Sullivan v. Florida
, Brief of Petitioner, filed July 16, 2009.
6
Former juvenile offenders who had later become …
Brief of Former Juvenile Offenders Charles S. Dutton, Former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R. Dwayne Betts, Luis Rodriguez, Terry K. Ray, T. J. Parsell, and Ishmael Beah as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners,
Graham v. Florida/Sullivan v. Florida
, U.S. Supreme Court (2009).
1
James “Bo” Cochran had been released …
Cochran v. Herring
, 43 F.3d 1404 (11th Cir. 1995).
2
But then a few years later, rates of execution …
“Facts About the Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Information Center (May 2, 2013), available at
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf
, accessed August 31, 2013.
