Story
DA Must Examine Lakeover Shooting
Without the baby face, sugary snacks and legal minor status, Quardious Thomas makes for a less sympathetic poster child for gun reform than Florida's Trayvon Martin.
Story
To Request or Not to Request
So, here's what's on my mind: when is the right time to request songs at small concerts in an intimate setting, and is it appropriate to do so? Is it …
Story
Camps for, Against Egypt President Clash in Cairo
For the first time since Egypt's new Islamist president took office, his supporters clashed with liberal and leftist protesters in Cairo, storming a stage erected by the opposition activists, smashing …
Story
Tacos and Fish Sticks
The surfboard on the wall reads, "Go with the 'FLOW'ood," and Taco Del Mar is the most recent restaurant to come rushing in with the influx of eateries opening in …
Story
Politics
Hosemann: Fewer than 900 Crossover Votes in June
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann says in a new report that fewer than 900 people might have voted in one party's primary and then improperly crossed over to vote …
Story
Politics
'Quagmire' of Voter ID
After Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann's scathing retort yesterday to "The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification," the Brennan Center for Justice is standing by its conclusions.
Story
National
Republicans Seek Distance from Trump's Comments on Putin, US
President Donald Trump has long expressed a desire for improved relations with Moscow, but his latest comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin and the U.S. are leading some fellow Republicans …
Story
Crime
Hinds DA Smith's Supreme Court Appeal Delays Rankin County Trial
A Rankin County judge today delayed the trial of Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith for aggravated stalking, robbery, and two counts of domestic violence, all involving an ex-girlfriend …
Story
Clinton Seeks to Use New FBI Inquiry as Galvanizing Force
Even before FBI Director James Comey jolted the presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton and her advisers were on edge.
Story
City & County
In Search of the Wheel’s Hub
What exactly was Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith looking for when he subpoenaed a circuit-court judge in January?
Story
National
Trump Warns Comey: Better Hope There Are No 'Tapes' of Talks
President Donald Trump, in a warning to his fired FBI director, said Friday that James Comey had better hope there are no "tapes" of their conversations. Trump's tweet came the …
Story
Business
Open For Business: Starting Small
Jacqueline Wells dreams of making films. That's why she's sitting in an office in an old shopping mall on Ellis Avenue, flanked by two portable fans compensating for the office's …
Story
Bizarro NAFTA logic
Sid Salter often reminds me of George Will: Clearly, he has a good mind, which shows up sometimes in his columns, but he's so busy using it to shill for …
Entry
Is Miss. About to 'Lynch' an Innocent Man?
By R.L. NaveWillie Jerome Manning, convicted of the 1992 murders of two Mississippi State students, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday May 7.
Manning has always said he did not commit the crime; in fact, he says he was at a club on the night of the murders. For years, he's been trying to convince the state to test DNA from the crime scene. As gruesome as the murders were, there should be lots of biological material to test. One of the victims, Tiffany Miller, was shot twice in the face at close range. One leg was out of her pants and underwear, and her shirt was pulled up. Her boyfriend John Steckler's body had abrasions that occurred before he died, and he was shot once in the back of the head. A set of car tracks had gone through the puddles of blood and over Steckler's body.
Already the Mississippi State Supreme Court has denied Manning's request to have DNA tests done that were unavailable in the early 90s. Now, Manning's attorneys have produced information that shows the Federal Bureau of Investigation erred in its testimony in Manning's case. In a letter to Oktibbeha County District Attorney Forrest Allgood, who prosecuted the case, U.S. Justice Department officials state "that testimony containing erroneous statements regarding microscopic hair comparison analysis was used" in Manning's case.
The letter goes on to say that information the FBI presented in its testimony "exceeded the limits of science, and was, therefore, invalid." The FBI offered to perform the mitochondrial DNA testing, and requested Allgood's office respond by May 6 -- the day before Manning is to be put to death.
It's unclear whether Allgood will be receptive. One of the issues Manning raised in his appeal is that Allgood illegally kept African Americans off Manning's jury by dismissing potential jurors who said they read African American magazines for reading liberal publications. David Voisin, Manning's attorney, said if approved the testing could take several weeks depending on which lab is used.
This afternoon at the Capitol, death-penalty opponents and Manning supporters called on Gov. Phil Bryant to stop the execution. The Mississippi Innocence Project field a brief in support of Manning this week. Kennedy Brewer, who was freed in 2008 with DNA tests after being convicted and sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend's young daughter, also wrote Bryant asking to give Manning the same opportunity to clear his name that Kennedy received.
Sister Maati, of Our Community Against Racism, invoked this year's 50th anniversary of Medgar Evers' assassination and said allowing Manning's execution take place, considering the discriminatory fashion in which his lawyers say the DA picked his jurors, would demonstrate that Mississippi has not moved beyond its legacy of injustice.
"Mississippi, prove that institutional racism is no longer a part of your southern heritage, or admit that the execution of Willie Manning is yet another Mississippi lynching," Sister Maati said this afternoon.
Story
Report: Detroit's Finances Crumbling; Future Bleak
Detroit is broke and faces a bleak future given the precarious financial path it's on, according to a new report out by the city's state-appointed emergency manager.
Story
William, Kate, Show Off Newborn Royal Baby Boy
A beaming Prince William and his wife, Kate, emerged from a London hospital on Tuesday with their newborn baby boy, presenting the world with a first glimpse of the prince …
Story
City & County
EDITOR'S NOTE: Onward and Upward in Downtown Jackson
To have a strong city, we have to have a strong downtown, and right now, we just don't. But that's not the end of the story.
Story
Editor's Note
Legos Make Jackson Better
In places such as Rankin County, there's this major misconception that Jackson is this evil place where everyone robs everyone, and witches brew their sinister potions on street corners.
Story
The Home Front
If Morgan Freeman is Clarksdale's most recognizable resident, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Luckett may be its second. An attorney and developer, Luckett runs two of his high-profile business ventures with …
Story
Blind Man's Bluff
Set to the teetering-toward-the-edge-of-lunacy strains of the Ukranian punk-Gypsy band Gogol Bordello, "Everything Is Illuminated" comes on like a Molotov cocktail. By its conclusion, though, it transforms into something far …
