Manning v. State
| Decision Date | 30 June 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2020-CA-01096-SCT |
| Parties | WILLIE JEROME MANNING a/k/a FLY v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 04/27/2020
OKTIBBEHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, HON. LEE J. HOWARD, TRIAL JUDGE
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: ROBERT S. MINK, SR., DAVID P. VOISIN OFFICE OF POST-CONVICTION COUNSEL BY: BENJAMIN H. McGEE, III
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY ALLISON K. HARTMAN LADONNA C. HOLLAND BRAD A. SMITH
¶1. Willie Jerome Manning appeals, asking this Court to allow him to transfer DNA evidence gathered from the crime scene of the murders of Tiffany Miller and Jon Stecker to a different specialized lab for additional advanced DNA testing. Manning is a convicted felon on death row. After many years of pursuing options for DNA testing and fingerprint analysis of evidence used against him at trial, pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 99-39-5 (Rev. 2020), this Court partially granted Manning's request for post-conviction collateral relief (PCR). Under this Court's order, Manning proceeded in the Circuit Court of Oktibbeha County with DNA analysis and fingerprint comparison utilizing the procedures set forth in Mississippi Code Section 99-39-11 (Rev. 2020). For six years, Manning had DNA evidence tested and expert fingerprint analysis performed. After receiving allegedly inconclusive results, Manning now appeals the circuit court's order denying his motion to transfer the DNA evidence to a different facility for additional DNA testing. This Court finds the circuit court did not abuse its discretion and affirms the denial of the request for additional testing.
¶2. Willie Jerome Manning was convicted in 1994 of two counts of capital murder while engaged in commission of a robbery for the murders of Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller in Oktibbeha County and was sentenced to death. Manning v. State 726 So.2d 1152 (Miss. 1998), abrogated by Weatherspoon v. State, 732 So.2d 158 (Miss. 1999).
¶3. The facts surrounding Manning's crime were thoroughly detailed by this Court on direct appeal, so this Court will highlight only those relevant to the issue of DNA testing. The State's theory at trial was that Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, two students attending Mississippi State University, confronted Manning while he was engaged in the robbery of John Wise's vehicle in the Sigma Chi fraternity house parking lot. Id. at 1165. Manning held Miller and Steckler at gunpoint, forced them into Miller's car and ordered Miller to drive around. Id. On Pat Station Road, Manning forced Steckler out of the car and killed him. Id. Manning and Miller drove further down the road before he subsequently killed her by shooting her in the head. Id.
¶4. Before trial, the Oktibbeha County Circuit Court granted Manning's motion to allow him to inspect all of the State's physical evidence, including fingerprints, hair, fiber and blood samples.
¶5. At trial, the State introduced State Evidence numbers 49 and 50, which were described as the "Bag Containing Evidence From Car." An FBI agent testified that he had analyzed State Evidence numbers 49 and 50, which were bags that contained hairs gathered from vacuuming and sweeping the carpet, console and floor of Miller's driver and passenger seat. He stated that he had performed a microscopic hair analysis and found the hairs "exhibited characteristics associated with the black race." He also testified that he could not compare the evidence to Manning's hair because he was unable to determine from which area of the body the hair fragments originated. The State frequently referenced the determination of racial characteristics of State Evidence numbers 49 and 50 in its closing arguments but stated that the hair fragments were corroborative, not dispositive, evidence.
¶6. Other evidence of guilt was presented. Statements from Paula Hathorn, Manning's live-in girlfriend,[1] were admitted into evidence, and she testified at trial. Id. at 1165. Hathorn stated that she saw Manning leave the house on December 9, 1992, with a gun and gloves. Id. Manning returned on December 14, 1992, with a CD player, a leather jacket and a watch, but he no longer had the gun. Id. Hathorn gave the police the leather jacket, and John Wise identified it as the one stolen from his car. Id. Hathorn also testified that Manning used the trees behind his mother's house for target practice, and she had seen him shooting in early December 1992. Id. Bullet shell casings were found in the trees at Manning's mother's house that matched the bullets found at the crime scene and in Miller's body.[2] Manning, 726 So.2d at 1166. John Wise identified a restroom coin that was stolen from his car and found at the crime scene. Id. One of Manning's friends pawned a CD player that Manning had sold to him, which had a matching serial number to the one stolen from John Wise. Id. Another one of Manning's friends testified that Manning attempted to sell her a gold class ring and wristwatch that matched the description of items belonging to Jon Steckler. A silver huggie that matched the description of the one stolen from John Wise was found in a fire hydrant approximately five miles from Manning's residence. Manning, 726 So.2d at 1166. Frank Parker, an inmate incarcerated at the same time as Manning, stated that he had heard Manning talking to another inmate about how Manning "didn't think they could convict him of the crime" and that he had sold the gun on the street. Id. In May 1993, while Manning was incarcerated, he confessed to Earl Jordan, his cousin, that he murdered the two students. Id. Jordan's statement of Manning's confession was also introduced as State evidence, and Jordan testified at trial.[3] Id.
¶7. Manning's conviction and sentence were affirmed on direct appeal by this Court. Id. at 1198. The Supreme Court of the United States denied Manning's petition for writ of certiorari. Manning v. Mississippi, 526 U.S. 1056, 119 S.Ct. 1368, 143 L.Ed.2d 528, (1999).
¶8. In Manning's first petition for PCR he Manning v. State, 929 So.2d 885, 890 (Miss. 2006). Manning also filed a motion during the course of his first PCR to allow him leave for discovery and inspection of evidence. Petition for Review of Lower Court's Order Denying Motion for Expert Assistance, Discovery, and Inspection of Evidence, Manning v. State, 929 So.2d 885 (Miss. 2006) (No. 2001-DR-00230-SCT). This Court denied Manning's motions and denied Manning's first petition for PCR. Manning, 929 So.2d at 907.
¶9. In 2008, Manning began pursuing a capital habeas corpus relief action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi asking for the "(1) production of evidence and funds for DNA testing; (2) the appointment of experts; and (3) subpoena of records that are in the possession of the Department of Human Services." Manning v. Epps, No. 1:05CV256-P, 2008 WL 4516386, at *1 (N.D. Miss. 2008). The district court granted Manning "leave to inspect the physical evidence in the custody of the Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Department, and [Manning] received a certified copy of the reports from the Mississippi Crime Lab in connection with this case." Id. at *1. Manning discovered untested biological evidence from the rape kit, victims' hands, fingernail scrapings, and vacuum sweepings of the car. Id. However, Manning's request for DNA testing in federal court was denied because he "failed to establish that DNA testing of the fingernail scrapings and the hair found in the victims' hands [was] reasonably necessary to pursue the claims in his petition, nor [was] there a basis for the Court to authorize inspection of the sexual assault kit performed on Miller." Id. at *2. There was "no nexus between the services sought and a claim of constitutional dimension." Id. The court further stated that "[e]ven if DNA testing could conclusively prove that it was not Petitioner's hair that was found in the vehicle, those results would not impeach the testimony given at trial, must less exonerate Petitioner." Id.
¶10. On March 22, 2013, this Court initially denied Manning's motion for leave to file a successive petition for post-conviction relief that included a request for DNA testing and other forensic analysis. Order, Manning v. State, No. 2013-DR-00491-SCT (Miss. Apr. 25, 2013). But this Court subsequently granted Manning leave to proceed in Oktibbeha County Circuit Court with DNA analysis and fingerprint comparison pursuant to the procedures set forth in Mississippi Code Section 99-39-11.[4] Order, Manning v. State, No. 2013-DR-00491-SCT (Miss. July 25, 2013).
¶11. Manning was allowed sixty days from the date of issuance of this Court's mandate to file his petition for DNA testing and fingerprint analysis in the Oktibbeha County Circuit Court. The mandate issued on August 15, 2013, and Manning timely filed a petition on October 14, 2013, requesting that the circuit court assist him in locating biological evidence suitable for DNA testing and permit him to send the evidence to Bode Technologies for analysis and comparison with DNA profiles in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and State DNA Index System (SDIS) databases. In his petition, Manning noted that "[d]epending on the condition of the evidence and the amount and type of biological material determined by the laboratory to be present after it had performed an initial screening of the evidence," a variety of modern DNA testing methods, such as "STR DNA testing,...
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