---
title: 'NEW SOURCE: National Georgraphic Connects Death Penalty and the town of "To Kill A Mockingbird"'
description: 'The January 2006 edition of the National Geographic features the town of Monroeville, Alabama, home of freed death row inmate Walter McMillian (pictured)…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-source-national-georgraphic-connects-death-penalty-and-the-town-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird'
section: news
date: '2006-01-19T21:13:32-05:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:24:10-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

The January 2006 edition of the National Geographic features the town of Monroeville, Alabama, home of freed death row inmate Walter McMillian (pictured) and Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. In the article, which highlights the town's annual theatrical tribute to Lee's book, McMillian's case is noted as "an eerie echo" of the book's storyline. In a resemblance to Lee's black fictional character Tom Robinson, McMillian was convicted in 1987 of murdering a white woman in Monroeville despite a lack of reliable evidence. He spent seven years on Alabama's death row before attorney Bryan Stevenson, with some assistance from a piece on 60 Minutes, successfully achieved his exoneration. McMillian returned to Monroeville after his release. (National Geographic, January 2006). See [Innocence](/innocence-and-death-penalty?did=412&scid=6) and [Resources.](/getcat.php?cid=5)