Courtesy of Krissy Nobile, Mr. Manning’s attorney.

On November 30, 2023, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered that the state’s request to set an exe­cu­tion date for death row pris­on­er Willie Manning be held until the court rules on a recent peti­tion seek­ing to bring new evi­dence of Mr. Manning’s inno­cence. Mr. Manning’s attor­neys had filed a peti­tion at the court on September 29, ask­ing for an oppor­tu­ni­ty to present recan­ta­tions from jail­house infor­mants who tes­ti­fied against Mr. Manning, as well as new expert analy­sis debunk­ing the unsci­en­tif­ic foren­sic evi­dence that was used against him at tri­al. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has admit­ted that the analy­sis used in Mr. Manning’s tri­al was flawed.

Mr. Manning, who is Black, was con­vict­ed in 1994 for the mur­ders of two white Mississippi State University stu­dents. At his tri­al, an FBI agent tes­ti­fied that hairs found in one of the victim’s vehi­cles came from a Black per­son. The pros­e­cu­tor referred to that tes­ti­mo­ny in his clos­ing argu­ment, say­ing that it impli­cat­ed Mr. Manning because of his race. The FBI agent also gave bal­lis­tics tes­ti­mo­ny that the FBI said in 2013 was seri­ous­ly flawed. The pros­e­cu­tion also pre­sent­ed tes­ti­mo­ny from jail­house infor­mants who claimed that Mr. Manning had con­fessed to the crime. Mr. Manning’s recent peti­tion seeks to present recan­ta­tions from infor­mants, who say they were per­suad­ed by the sheriff’s office to tes­ti­fy against Mr. Manning.

The order from the Mississippi Supreme Court tem­porar­i­ly delays the state’s request for an exe­cu­tion date, which was filed on November 3. It requires the state to respond to Mr. Manning’s peti­tion by December 29, and then allows fif­teen days for his attor­neys to reply. The court will not set an exe­cu­tion date until it has ruled on the case. ​“Given the alle­ga­tions we’ve made and the proof we’ve sub­mit­ted, we would hope the Court would either grant relief out­right or grant an evi­den­tiary hear­ing where we can present the evi­dence to a tri­al judge,” Mr. Manning’s attor­ney, David Voisin, told the Mississippi Free Press.

In 2015, Mr. Manning was exon­er­at­ed of an unre­lat­ed crime, for which he had also been sen­tenced to death. 

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Lici Beveridge, MS Supreme Court puts hold on set­ting exe­cu­tion date for 1 man. Here’s what hap­pened, Mississippi Clarion Ledger, November 30, 2023; Heather Harrison, Willie Manning Execution Date Decision Delayed Amid DNA Testing Push, Mississippi Free Press, December 5, 2023; Michael McEwen, Q&A: Krissy Nobile, direc­tor of the Mississippi Office of Capital Post-Conviction Counsel, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, December 5, 2023.