Steven Manning, a for­mer Chicago police offi­cer who was exon­er­at­ed from Illinois’ death row in 2000 but remained in a Missouri prison on anoth­er charge, has been freed after Missouri pros­e­cu­tors dropped all charges against him. In January 2000, 7 years after he was sen­tenced to death in Illinois, a judge threw out Manning’s death sen­tence and con­vic­tion because the state used inad­mis­si­ble tes­ti­mo­ny to secure his con­vic­tion. Cook County pros­e­cu­tors lat­er dis­missed their case against Manning because the tes­ti­mo­ny of the remain­ing key wit­ness in the case, Tommy Dye, was unre­li­able. Dye, a noto­ri­ous jail­house snitch, had a long his­to­ry of lying under oath and of receiv­ing ben­e­fits from pros­e­cu­tors in exchange for tes­ti­mo­ny in cas­es. After Illinois pros­e­cu­tors dropped their case, Manning chal­lenged his Missouri kid­nap­ping con­vic­tion. This charge was also based on unre­li­able infor­mant tes­ti­mo­ny, most notably state­ments giv­en by a kid­nap­ping ring­leader who lat­er com­plained that the state failed to pay him the mon­ey they had promised for his tes­ti­mo­ny. The state also used the tes­ti­mo­ny of a ques­tion­able eye­wit­ness who failed to accu­rate­ly iden­ti­fy Manning dur­ing his first tri­al. ​“I’m not sure a kid­nap­ping even occurred,” said defense attor­ney Cynthia Short. ​“Not only do I think Steve was nev­er involved, I don’t know it hap­pened,” she said after the Missouri charges were dis­missed in February 2004. Manning is now free and is suing two FBI agents for their role in his wrong­ful con­vic­tions. (Chicago Tribune, Feb. 27, 2004) See Innocence. There have been 113 death row inmates exon­er­at­ed since 1973. Manning’s rever­sal in Illinois led to a mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions in that state that remains in place.

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