Introduction + Part One: Initial Thoughts

Welcome!

For those who are not reading Just Mercy alongside with me, there is a chance that the name Walter McMillian will be unknown to you. For that reason, here is a little background of McMillian:

He is black.

He grew up just outside of Monroeville, Alabama in a poor area that was and still is predominantly black. Exposed to the cotton industry as a kid, McMillian gained experience in the agricultural industry, that would later help him start his own pulpwood business in the 1970s.

The first time Walter McMillian’s name became known was when the residents of Monroeville discovered that McMillian was having an affair with Karen Kelly, a married white woman. At that time interracial relationships were seriously frowned upon. In fact, the Alabama state constitution prohibited the authorization of any interracial marriage.

McMillian’s reputation went down after that and he was only seen as the black man who had sex with a married white woman. Unfortunately, Karen Kelly was having a much harder time dealing with the consequences. She began taking drugs and associating herself with a criminal named Ralph Myers. This comes to importance when Ronda Morrison was found dead at the local cleaners. She came from a well respected family which made the case very public. Ralph Myers, already suspected for murdering another woman, was questioned. His stories were exaggerated and far from the truth. He even went as far to say that county sheriff, Tom Tate had killed Morrison. But when Myers mentioned that Walter McMillian was involved, people's ears perked up. It had been about four months since the murder and residents of Monroe County wanted answers. When Myers brought up McMillian’s name, the sheriff saw it as an opportunity to arrest someone. Mcmillan became the perfect suspect simply because he was a black man who had a scandalous affair with a white woman.

This was when Walter McMillian become known for the second time. Although he had more than a dozen albis and evidence that proved he was innocent, he was still convicted of murder and sent to death row.

Just Mercy revolves around McMillian’s case and the author, Bryan Stevenson’s effort to save him from the death penalty.

Walter McMillian

Before reading this book I had very little knowledge about the American criminal justice system. I knew that there were people upset about the system. I didn’t know why and, to be honest, I didn’t really care. Having never had trouble with the law I thought that that the criminal system was irrelevant to me.

I was wrong.

I’m 91 pages into this book and I can confidently say that the American criminal justice system is relevant, to me and every American. Under the United States Constitution every American is promised a fair and equal trial but our justice system has undoubtedly broken that promise. The system had unjustly taken the lives of Horace Dunkins, Michael Lindsey, and Herbert Richardson; all men that Stevenson tried to help. All these men, in the process of being incarcerated, encountered discrimination because of their color and economic status. So much for the concept that everyone is equal before the law. If injustice is happening in the courts, a highly regulated and educated place, then what does that tell us about our society?

There were many things that surprised and disappointed me in this reading.

I was surprised at the multitude of stories Stevenson shared about falsely accused felons. Most of the stories showed that poor colored men did not get fair trials because they were not given proper legal assistance. How could a society with movements such as #meToo and #Timesup fall into the hands of racism? What struck me too was how people were willing to ignore evidence and red flags simply to get a trial over with. As Stevenson points out, “finality, not fairness, had become the new priority in death penalty jurisprudence” (Stevenson 78). It is obvious that the courts no longer cared about maintaining fairness. To satisfy the public and to impress coworkers, judges and lawyers just want a quick trial. This is quite evident in McMillian’s trial. Only three out of the twelve alibis were brought to trial and no one mentioned the lack of credibility and background of Ralph Myers. I was baffled when I learned that Ralph Myers had told the officers multiple times that his allegations against McMillian were not true, yet the officers still used Myers as a witness. When I was reading about Walter McMillan’s case I kept asking myself: Is this a true story? Am I really really reading a nonfiction book? I just couldn’t believe how poorly constructed the justice system had become. How could we ignore such obvious information? In fact, I was so shocked that I had to look up the case to make sure the people were real and remind myself that none of it is fictional. A part of me was hoping that it was.

At random moments in my life I have found myself pondering over the question, what would I do if today was my last day? I’ve never really taken the question very seriously because I know that I have decades before I die. But after reading the detailed encounter Stevenson had with Herbert Richardson on the day of his execution, I realized, that death row inmates wake up every day, knowing that in x amount of days they are going to be electrocuted. It makes my anxiousness for a test in the morning seem a bit silly now. And on top of that, it’s not just the inmate that has to suffer but the inmate's family. One of the most disheartening parts in the book (so far) is when Richardson says goodbye to his family. Just to imagine having to do such a thing is hard enough! But to read how his wife clung on to him, crying loudly “I’m not going to leave you” (Stevenson 87) makes it surreal. No one should have to experience that, not even a felon. Yet, the American justice system is the reason why the death penalty still exists in 30 states. It is the reason why men like Walter McMillian were unjustly put into death row.

Can we truly use the word justice to describe the American criminal system?

Thank you for reading! I’m excited to dive into the complex and much needed discussion about the flawed criminal system in America.

Image of Walter McMillian is from https://eji.org/walter-mcmillian