After ear­li­er vot­ing to deny death row inmate Willie Manning access to DNA test­ing, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed itself on July 23 and cleared the way for the test­ing of evi­dence in Manning’s case. Manning has main­tained his inno­cence since his 1994 con­vic­tion of the mur­ders of two col­lege stu­dents. His renewed request for test­ing was sup­port­ed by let­ters from the Department of Justice and the FBI, which are con­duct­ing a review of foren­sic tes­ti­mo­ny by FBI experts. They have found 27 death penal­ty cas­es, includ­ing Manning’s, that may have includ­ed erro­neous tes­ti­mo­ny. Manning came with­in hours of exe­cu­tion on May 7, but the Mississippi Supreme Court final­ly grant­ed a stay after hear­ing from the Justice Department about errors at Manning’s tri­al. The order gives Manning 60 days to ask a coun­ty judge to grant DNA and fin­ger­print test­ing. Tucker Carrington, Director of the Mississippi Innocence Project, said of the deci­sion, ​“I feel like Mississippi stepped back from the precipice, regard­less of the results … by allow­ing the test­ing and avoid­ing becom­ing one of a few if not the first state ever to ignore … the pro­ba­tive val­ue of post con­vic­tion DNA evidence.”

(E. Lane, ​“DNA test grant­ed for Miss. death row inmate,” Clarion Ledger, July 25, 2013.) See Innocence.

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