After 32 Years on Death Row, Tennessee Prisoner’s Death Sentence is Vacated for Prosecutorial Misconduct

Thirty-two years after he was sen­tenced to death in a tri­al taint­ed by pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, Tennessee death-row pris­on­er Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman (pic­tured) has been resen­tenced to life in prison. On August 30, 2019, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins approved a plea deal reached between Abdur’Rahman and Nashville pros­e­cu­tors, vacat­ed Abdur’Rahman’s death sen­tence, and in its place imposed three con­sec­u­tive life sen­tences. Abdur’Rahman, who faced an April 16, 2020 exe­cu­tion date, had sought a new tri­al alleg­ing that pros­e­cu­tor John Zimmerman had dis­crim­i­na­to­ri­ly exclud­ed black prospec­tive jurors from serv­ing in Abdur’Rahman’s cap­i­tal tri­al. Based on these and oth­er mis­con­duct alle­ga­tions against Zimmerman, District Attorney General Glenn Funk agreed that jus­tice would be served with Abdur’Rahman’s sen­tence being reduced to life in prison. 

Abdur’Rahman was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1987 for the stab­bing death of Patrick Daniels. As her two young chil­dren cow­ered in an adja­cent room, Norma Jean Norman was also seri­ous­ly wound­ed but sur­vived. Abdur’Rahman argued that his con­vic­tion should be over­turned because Zimmerman dis­crim­i­na­to­ri­ly struck two black poten­tial jurors based on racist stereo­types. Zimmerman attempt­ed to jus­ti­fy his strike of one black juror by assert­ing that the col­lege-edu­cat­ed black pas­tor seemed ​“une­d­u­cat­ed” and lacked ​“com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills.” However, Bradley MacLean, Abdur’Rahman’s lawyer, said this mis­con­duct was only the tip of the ice­berg. In pre­vi­ous court fil­ings, MacLean high­light­ed oth­er impro­pri­eties by Zimmerman, includ­ing the prosecutor’s mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion that a coat owned by Abdur’Rahman had been stained with the vic­tims’ blood. Because of the inep­ti­tude of Abdur’Rahman’s tri­al attor­ney, the defense did not inves­ti­gate the verac­i­ty of Zimmerman’s asser­tion. A lat­er exam­i­na­tion of the evi­dence revealed that the stains were not blood at all, but paint from Abdur’Rahman’s workplace.

On August 28, MacLean and Funk appeared in Davidson County crim­i­nal court to joint­ly present a pro­posed order vacat­ing Abdur’Rahman’s death sen­tence. For thir­ty min­utes, MacLean recount­ed Zimmerman’s mis­con­duct in the case, say­ing that the pros­e­cu­tor had ​“engaged in a per­va­sive pat­tern of sup­pres­sion and decep­tion” through­out Abdur’Rahman’s tri­al. “[T]he harm done by ADA Zimmerman’s egre­gious mis­con­duct was deep and pro­found,” MacLean told the court. ​“He harmed the integri­ty of the tri­al.” Funk — who had pre­vi­ous­ly crit­i­cized a 2015 train­ing lec­ture by Zimmerman that espoused the racial­ly moti­vat­ed use of jury strikes — declined to defend Zimmerman’s con­duct. After describ­ing the last­ing effects of the attack on Norman and her chil­dren, Funk informed the court that they did not object to a sen­tence that would bring the case to a con­clu­sion and would ensure that Abdur’Rahman would not be released from prison. 

Funk con­ced­ed that Abdur’Rahman’s tri­al had been infect­ed by ​“overt racial bias” as a result of which his sen­tence should be reduced. The District Attorney General told the court, “[t]he pur­suit of jus­tice is incom­pat­i­ble with decep­tion. Prosecutors must nev­er be dis­hon­est to or mis­lead defense attor­neys, courts or juries.” 

Zimmerman’s 2015 train­ing lec­ture report­ed­ly told fel­low pros­e­cu­tors that in a case with Latinx defen­dants, he ​“want­ed an all African-American jury, because ​‘all Blacks hate Mexicans.’” In a let­ter about the lec­ture, Funk described Zimmerman’s advice as ​“encourag[ing] uneth­i­cal and ille­gal con­duct.” In Zimmerman’s cur­rent posi­tion as a Rutherford County pros­e­cu­tor, he has also been accused of tar­get­ing law-abid­ing minor­i­ty busi­ness own­ers in a failed 2018 sting operation. 

During his 32 years on death row, Abdur’Rahman had twice come with­in days of exe­cu­tion before court deci­sions issued stays that allowed him to con­tin­ue to lit­i­gate his case. The daugh­ters of sur­viv­ing vic­tim Norma Jean Norman expressed relief that the lit­i­ga­tion has come to an end. Katrina Norman told reporters, ​“I’m just glad it’s final­ly over.” She and her sis­ter also expressed anger at Zimmerman’s behav­ior, which they said added to their family’s suffering.