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Manning v. State3/31/1999
. Manning gave a statement to police on March 10, 1994, in which he denied being at Brooksville Gardens on the day of the murders. He claimed that he went to town with his mother intending to march in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade, but decided to go home when it started raining between 10:00 a.m. and noon. Manning also said that he had known the two old ladies since he was fourteen and did not know anyone who would want to hurt them. Manning's statement was refuted by the testimony of Kevin Lucious, Herbert Ashford, Nancy Elliott, Barbara Duck, and Larry Harris, who were all able to place Manning at Brooksville Gardens on January 18, 1993.
. Manning's defense theory was that Emmoline Jimmerson's son, James Lee Jimmerson, was the actual perpetrator in this case. Jimmerson had been in an argument over the telephone with his mother on the morning of the murders. Based upon Dr. Hayne's testimony that one of the slash wounds on Ms. Jordan's neck was cut from her right to her left with a significant amount of force, the defense proposed that Jimmerson, being left-handed, was more likely to have committed the murders than Manning, who is right-handed. Defense attorney Mark Williamson's theory was that the perpetrator stood behind the victims and cut their throats as they lay on the floor. However, as the prosecutor pointed out during closing argument, Dr. Hayne was unable to determine whether the perpetrator stood behind, in front of, or to the side of the victims to slash their throats, and it would be possible for either a right-handed or left-handed person to inflict the wound in question. The defense also relied on the inconsistent statements of Shantay Lee, Jimmerson's girlfriend, regarding Jimmerson's whereabouts on the day in question. Police initially investigated Jimmerson as a suspect in the case, but found no evidence connecting him to the murders. Everyone they interviewed confirmed Jimmerson's alibi that he was at home at the time of the murders. Eventually, the focus of the investigation shifted to Manning, who was indicted in the Circuit Court of Oktibbeha County on two counts of capital murder.
. Based upon the above evidence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on both counts of capital murder on July 24, 1996. The sentencing phase of the trial was held on July 25, 1996, and the jury voted that the death penalty should be imposed in both counts. On July 30, 1996, Circuit Court Judge John M. Montgomery entered his orders of conviction and sentence, ordering that Manning be put to death by lethal injection on September 5, 1996. Manning perfected his appeal to this Court and assigns as error the following:
"I. THE CASE MUST BE REVERSED AND RENDERED SINCE THE EVIDENCE DOES NOT EXCLUDE THE REASONABLE POSSIBILITY THAT WILLIE MANNING IS INNOCENT OF THE CRIMES. "II. IN A CASE THAT HINGED TOTALLY ON TWO HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE SNITCHES, THE JURY SHOULD HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO VIEW THE TESTIMONY OF INFORMANTS WITH CAUTION. "III. WHERE WILLIE MANNING'S OTHER DEATH SENTENCE WAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE IN THE COMMUNITY, IT WAS ERROR TO REFUSE TO ALLOW THE DEFENSE TO VOIR DIRE MEANINGFULLY ON THIS CRITICAL ISSUE. "IV. WILLIE MANNING WAS DENIED HIS RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE COUNSEL AT THE PENALTY PHASE OF HIS TRIAL. "V. THE FAILURE TO GIVE A CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE INSTRUCTION VIOLATED WILLIE MANNING'S RIGHTS. "VI. WILLIE MANNING WAS DENIED A FAIR TRIAL BECAUSE THE STATE ONCE AGAIN ABUSED ITS PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES TO STRIKE BLACK JURORS IN VIOLATION OF BATSON v. KENTUCKY. "VII. THE GRUESOME PHOTOGRAPHS IN THIS CASE NOT ONLY PREJUDICED WILLIE MANNING, BUT RENDERED HIS JURY PARTIAL. "VIII.WITNESSES WHO TESTIFIED FOR THE STATE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO SPECULATE OR OFFER OPINIONS REGA
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