Just Mercy: Chapters 9–11

The mysterious third person, who is circumstantially presumed to be in charge, allegedly instructed McMillian to 'get rid of Myers,' which Mr. McMillian said he couldn't do because he was out of bullets.

I took a moment before turning to the bailiff to call Myers to the stand.

Now the judge leaned in to listen with rapt attention.

After relentless questioning about why he was changing his testimony and Chapman’s suggestion that someone was putting him up to this, Ralph became indignant.

The next challenge was to rebut the testimony of Bill Hooks and Joe Hightower, who had claimed to see Walter’s modified “low-rider” truck pulling out from the cleaners about the time Ronda Morrison was murdered.

He came back a few moments later and grinned at me tentatively "Um, you can come in."

Chapman and Valeska were already sitting at the prosecutor's table, acting as if nothing was going on. I was livid.

Michael and I conferred briefly about the order of witnesses as the rest of McMillian's family and supporters slowly filed through the metal detector, past the dog, and into the courtroom.

Mohabbat reported that Myers “categorically denied having anything to do with the alleged crime. He claimed, ‘I don't know the name of this girl, I don't know the time of the alleged crime, I don't know the date of the alleged crime, I don't know the place of the alleged crime.’”

My head was full of everything that had transpired in court: I was replaying what witnesses had said and worrying about whether things had gone exactly right.

They'd lied to us and subverted the judicial process.

Mass incarceration has been largely fueled by misguided drug policy and excessive sentencing, but the internment of hundreds of thousands of poor and mentally ill people has been a driving force in achieving our record levels of imprisonment.

Families, teachers, and courts were sending thousands to institutions for eccentricities...

The lack of treatment makes compliance with the myriad rules that define prison life impossible for many disabled people.

Other prisoners exploit or react violently to the behavioral symptoms of the mentally ill.

Many judges, prosecutors, and defense lawyers do a poor job of recognizing the special needs of the mentally disabled, which leads to wrongful convictions, lengthier prison terms, and high rates of recidivism.

Then he started hallucinating and exhibiting increasingly bizarre and erratic behavior.

Ed Seger, the doctor who examined George, mysteriously concluded that he was not mentally ill but was "malingering" or faking symptoms of mental illness.

By the time we at EJI got involved, he had been on death row for several years, moving inexorably toward execution.

When I pulled into the prison parking lot, I noticed a pickup truck there that looked like a shrine to the Old South: It was completely covered with disturbing bumper stickers, Confederate flag decals, and other troubling images.

Confederate monuments, memorials, and imagery proliferated throughout the South during the Civil Rights Era.

We contended that his attorneys had failed to provide effective assistance of counsel at trial when they didn't uncover Avery's history or present his disabilities as relevant to his criminal culpability and sentence.

They explained that the psychosis and other serious mental health problems that burdened Mr. Jenkins could lead to dangerous behavior, but this behavior was a manifestation of serious illness, not a reflection of his character.

The pages contained a tersely worded order from Judge Norton denying us relief.

What was surprising, however, was how superficial, insubstantial, and uninterested the court's two-and-a-half-page order read.

Clearly, Ralph Meyers has either perjured himself at trial or has perjured himself in front of this Court.

The following areas of concern were considered in reaching this decision: The demeanor of the witness; the opportunity of the witness to have knowledge of the facts which he testified to at trial; the rationale, as stated by the witness for his testimony at the first trial; the rationale, as stated by the defendant, for his recantation...

...the actions of the witness that lend credence to his trial testimony and the actions of the witness that lend credence to his recantation; evidence adduced at trial in contradiction of the witness' testimony on details, and due to the nature of this case, any evidence from any source concerning the inability of the witness to have known the facts to which he testified to at trial.

...the actions of the witness that lend credence to his trial testimony and the actions of the witness that lend credence to his recantation; evidence adduced at trial in contradiction of the witness' testimony on details, and due to the nature of this case, any evidence from any source concerning the inability of the witness to have known the facts to which he testified to at trial.

This cause having been remanded to the Court for a determination of whether there is evidence to support the theory that Ralph Meyers perjured himself at the original trial and this court having determined that there is insufficient evidence to support that theory, it is therefore ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that the trial testimony of Ralph Myers is not found to have been perjured testimony.

Bernard's quick immersion in the McMillian case intensified his cultural adventure more than he could have ever imagined.

His freedom wouldn't be based on some tricky legal loophole or the exploitation of a technicality.

It was a common tactic used by Southern politicians during civil rights protests: Sue national media outlets for defamation if they provide sympathetic coverage of activists or if they characterize Southern politicians and law enforcement officers unfavorably.

Beyond the general antimedia sentiments in the South, the death penalty was particularly polarizing.

It’s such a politically charged topic that even sympathetic pieces about people on death row usually triggered a local backlash that created more problems for the client and the case.

I knew of too many cases where a favorable profile in the media had provoked an expedited execution date or retaliatory mistreatment that made things much worse.

Chapman had become the public face defending the conviction, and he realized that he'd put his own credibility on the line by relying on the work of local investigators—work that was now revealed as almost farcically flawed.

“On a beach, I think," Cole added nonchalantly.

He would hint at having information that could help us, but he was coy and slow to share anything concrete.

I'd expected to be exuberant.