INNOCENCE: Another Inmate is Exonerated, After 16 Years on Death Row

On December 5, a Tennessee jury acquit­ted Michael Lee McCormick of the 1985 mur­der of Donna Jean Nichols, a crime for which McCormick spent 16 years on death row. In his first tri­al, the pros­e­cu­tion intro­duced hair evi­dence from Nichols’ car that the FBI said matched McCormick. DNA test­ing lat­er found that the hair did not match McCormick and this evi­dence was not per­mit­ted in the new tri­al. McCormick’s attor­ney, Karla Gothard said after the tri­al, ​“We have been liv­ing with this case for years, and we are immense­ly relieved. I can’t imag­ine what Michael McCormick is feel­ing.”

Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood com­ment­ed, ​“The way this case has lin­gered on, there has not been clo­sure for Michael McCormick for 20 years. This sys­tem is not per­fect, but some­how it works itself out.”

(“Jury Finds McCormick Not Guilty Of Killing Jeannie Nichols: Man Who Spent Years On Death Row To Go Free,” The Chattanoogan, December 5, 2007). See also Innocence. McCormick is the 125^th per­son exon­er­at­ed from death row since 1973.