Entries tagged with “Michael McCormick”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Dec 05, 2007

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…

Oct 22, 2003

Judge Throws Out Last Piece of Evidence Against Tennessee Man

Michael Lee McCormick has been on Tennessee’s death row for 17 years, but a recent court deci­sion throw­ing out the remain­ing evi­dence against him could result in his free­dom. Judge Doug Meyer ruled that tapes con­tain­ing con­ver­sa­tions between McCormick and an under­cov­er police offi­cer who had befriend­ed him were inad­mis­si­ble due to ​“police mis­con­duct.” Meyer not­ed that McCormick, who is an alco­holic, had con­tin­u­al­ly denied his involve­ment in the crime ​“until the author­i­ties made him dependent…