A Florida inmate faces exe­cu­tion despite new rev­e­la­tions that the state prompt­ed a tri­al wit­ness to lie. Inmate Wayne Tompkins was to be exe­cut­ed in Florida on October 28, 2008, but was grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion to allow time for the state Supreme Court to review his case. On November 7, the court denied Tompkins’ appeal, even though the court acknowl­edged that a state wit­ness, a jail­house infor­mant, admit­ted to pro­vid­ing false tes­ti­mo­ny at Tompkins’ orig­i­nal tri­al in 1985.

Justice Harry Anstead dis­sent­ed from the court’s rul­ing, not­ing that jail­house infor­mants are often unre­li­able, and in this case the infor­mant was appar­ent­ly prompt­ed to lie. He wrote, ​“Indeed, if the claim is true, we have a state pros­e­cu­tor who com­mit­ted a crim­i­nal act in tam­per­ing with a wit­ness. Surely, com­mon sense would tell us this is the kind of ​‘bomb­shell’ dis­clo­sure that could change the jury’s entire eval­u­a­tion of the case.” Tompkins’ attor­ney Martin McClain cit­ed numer­ous con­cerns about the state’s case. ​“This is one of the most trou­bling cas­es that I have,” he said. ​“The evi­dence against Mr. Tompkins is just absurd.” Tompkins’ stay of exe­cu­tion expires on Nov. 18.

(C. Jenkins, ​“Tampa killer los­es death row appeal,” November 8, 2008). See Innocence and Arbitrariness. DPIC’s Press Release on the sto­ry may be found here.

Citation Guide