all right we're back chapter 9 page 139 i'm here finally the date for walter mcmillan's hearing was nearing here was our opportunity to present all the new evidence in walter's favor including ralph meyer's testimony and the newly discovered police records meanwhile tom chapman was preparing to defend walter's conviction with the help of assistant attorney general don veleska a longtime prosecutor with a reputation for being aggressive in his prosecution of bad guys michael and i had reached out to chapman before the hearing to see if we could persuade him to reopen the investigation and independently re-examine whether walter macmillan was guilty but by now chapman and all the law enforcement officers had grown tired of us i'd consider reporting them to the bom to them the bomb threats and death threats we'd receive since they were likely coming from people in monroe county but i wasn't sure anyone in sheriff's or da's office would care judge robert e lee key junior had retired the new judge on the case judge thomas b norton jr had also grown wary of us we kept insisting on obtaining all files and evidence the state had in its possession we were sure there was still more that had not been turned over in the last pre-trial appearance the judge had asked how much time will you need to present your evidence mr stevenson we'd like to reserve a week your honor a week you've got to be joking for a rule 32 hearing the trial in this case lasted only a day and a half yes sir we believe this is an extraordinary case and there are several witnesses and three days mr stevenson if you can't make your case in three days after all this drama you've stirred up you don't really have anything judge i adjourned after spending another long day in monroeville tracking down a few final witnesses michael and i went back to the office to plan how to present all the evidence in the narrow amount of time the judge had given us another concern was meyer's untrustworthiness ralph was such a wild card that we didn't know what to expect from him we sat down with him a few days before the hearing to be crystal clear just answer the questions accurately and honestly ralph i warned him i always do ralph said confidently wait did you just say you always do michael asks what are you talking about you always do ralph you lied through the entire trial that's what we're going to expose at this hearing i know meyer said cooley i meant i always tell you all the truth don't freak me out ralph just testify truthfully michael said we arrived at the courthouse the morning of the hearing early and anxious we were both dressed in dark suits white shirts and muted ties i usually dressed as conservatively as possible for court i was a young bearded black man and i tried to meet the court's expectations of a what a lawyer looked like if only for the sake of my clients both myers and walter were in holding cells in the basement of the courthouse we first went to check on myers he was anxious worse he was unusually quiet and reserved i went to see walter next being back at the courthouse where he'd been convicted four years earlier had shaken him but he had forced himself to smile when i walked in was the trip okay i asked everything is good just hoping for something better than the last time i was here i nodded sympathetically and reviewed with him what i thought would unfold over the next few days then i made my way upstairs to get ready for court to begin when i entered the courtroom i was shocked by what i saw dozens of people from the community mostly black and poor dressing church clothes had packed the viewing area people from walters family people who attended the fish fry on the day of the crime people we'd interviewed over the past several months people who knew walter from working with him even sam crook and his posse were crammed into the courtroom minnie and amelia smiled as i walked in tom chapman then walked in with don valesca and they both scanned the room i could tell from the looks on their faces that they were unhappy about the crowd tate larry ignore and benson the law enforcement team primarily responsible for walters prosecution entered behind them the parents of rhonda morrison were seated at the front of the court it took a few seconds for the black community members to settle into silence which seemed to annoy judge norton a balding white man in his 50s but i was energized by their presence and was happy for walter that so many people had come out to support him gentlemen are we ready to proceed judge norton asked we are your honor i replied but we intend to call several the law enforcement officers present in the courtroom and i would like to invoke the rule of sequestration in criminal cases witnesses who will testify are required to sit outside the courtroom so they can't alter their testimony based on what other witnesses say since officers were testifying it seemed obviously obvious that they should have to sit outside veleska was on his feet immediately no judge that's not going to happen these are the investigators who figured out this heinous crime and we need them in court to present our case i stayed on my feet the state doesn't bear the burden of presenting a case in these proceedings your honor we do this isn't a criminal trial but a post-conviction evidentiary hearing judge they're the ones that are trying to retry this case and we need our people inside the let's get countered the judge jumped in with well it does sound like you're trying to retry the case mr stevenson so i'm going to allow the state to keep the crime investigators in the courtroom this was not a good start but there was nothing we could do i decided to proceed with an opening statement before calling myers as our first witness i wanted the judge to understand that we weren't just defending mr mcmillan from a different angle than his old lawyers i wanted him to know that we had dramatic new evidence of innocence that completely cleared walter i wanted him to know the ju that justice demanded walters immediately release your honor the state's case against walter mcmillan turned entirely on the testimony of ralph myers who had several prior felony convictions and another capital murder case pending against him in escambia county at the time of mr mcmillan's trial at trial mr mcmillan asserted that he was innocent and that he did not know mr myers at the time of this crime he has maintained his innocence throughout these proceedings the judge had been fidgeting and i had seemed distracted when i started so i paused even if he didn't agree i wanted him to hear what i was saying i stopped talking until i was sure that he was paying close attention finally he made eye contact with me so i continued there is no question that walter mcmillan was convicted of capital murder based on the testimony of ralph myers there was no other evidence to establish mr mcmillan's guilt for capital murder at trial other than meyer's testimony the state had no physical evidence linking mr mcmillan to this crime the state had no motive the state had no witnesses to the crime the state had only the testimony of ralph myers at trials myers testified that he was unknowingly and unwillingly made part of a capital murder and robbery on november 1st 1986 when martin macmillan saw him at a car wash and asked him to drive mr mcmillan's truck because his arm hurt stated that he drove mr mcmillan to jackson cleaners subsequently went into the cleaner and saw mr mcmillan with a gun placing money in a brown bag another man who was white was also present in the cleaners myers testified that this man had black gray hair and allegedly talked to mr macmillan myers asserted that he was shoved and threatened by mr mcmillan when he went into the cleaners the mysterious third person presumed to be in charge allegedly instructed mr mcmillan to get rid of myers which mr mcmillan said he couldn't do because he was out of bullets the white man in charge has never been identified or arrested by the state the state has not been looking for a third person a ringleader for this crime because i think they recognize that this person does not exist i paused again to let the meaning of this sink in based on the testimony of ralph myers walter macmillan was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death as you're about to hear the testimony of ralph myers was completely false again your honor the testimony of ralph myers at trial was completely false i took a moment before turning to the ballot to call myers to the stand the court maroon was silent until the deputy opened the door and ralph myers walked into the courtroom ralph had aged visibly since the last time the people in the courtroom had seen him i could hear murmurs about how his hair had grayed dressed in his prison whites myers once again appeared small and sad to me as he climbed up onto the witness stand judge norton was looking at him attentively i walked over to begin my examination after asking him to state his name for the record and establishing that he had previously appeared in court and testified against walter mcmillan it was time to get to the heart of things i came closer to the witness stand mr myers was the testimony that you gave at mr mcmillan's trial true i was hoping that the judge couldn't see i was holding my breath waiting for walt ralph to answer ralph looked at me coolly but then spoke very clearly and confidently not at all there was more murmuring in the courtroom now but the crowd quickly quieted to hear more not at all i repeat it before continuing i wanted ralph's reconstitution to stink in but i didn't want to hesitate too long because we needed a lot more did you see mr mcmillan on the day that ronda morrison was murdered absolutely not ralph looked steady as he spoke did you drive his truck into monroeville on that day absolutely not did you go into jackson cleaners when rhonda morrison was murdered no never did now at mr mcmillan's trial did you give some testimony that there was a white man inside the cleaners when you went inside yes i did was that what was that testimony please as i can recall the testimony was that i had overhead heard walter mcmillan saying something to this guy and i also recalled saying that i had seen the back part of his head but that's just about all i can recall on that was that testimony true mr myers no it wasn't now the judge leaned in to listen with wrapped attention were any of the allegations you made against walter mcmillan as being involved in the rondo mars and murder true ralph paul isn't looking around the courtroom before he answered for the first time there was a motion in his voice regret or remorse no it seemed that everyone in the courtroom had been holding their breath but now there was an audible buzz from many of walters supporters i had a copy of the trial transcript and took ralph through every sentence of his testimony against walter statement by statement he acknowledged that his previous testimony was entirely false myers would frequently turn his head to look judge norton directly in the eye as he spoke even during the lengthy cross-examination by chapman he remained firm after relentless questioning about why he was changing his testimony and chapman's suggesting that someone was putting him up to this ralph became indignant he looked at the prosecutor and said me i can simply look in your face and anybody else's face dead eye to eyeball and tell you that's all i anything that was told about macmillan was a lie as far as i know mr mcmillan didn't have anything to do with this because on the day on the day that they said this happened i didn't even see macmillan and that's exactly what i told lots of people i reviewed my notes and then glanced at michael to make sure i hadn't forgotten anything are we okay michael looked astonish ralph was great he was really really great i looked at walter and only then realized that his eyes were moist he was shaking his head from side to side in disbelief i put my hand on the shoulder before announcing to the court that myers could be excused we had no further questions meyer stood up to leave the courtroom as the deputies led him to the side door he looked apologetically at walter before being escorted out i'm not sure walter saw him people in the courtroom started whispering again i heard one of walters relatives in a muted tone say thank you jesus the next challenge to disprove the testimonies of bill hooks and joe hyatt tower who had claimed to see walter's modified low rider truck pulling out from the cleaners about the time rhonda marson was murdered i called clay cass to the stand the white mechanic testified that mr mcmillan's truck was not a low rider in november 1986 when ronda morrison was murdered cass had records and clearly remembered modifying walter's truck in may of 1987 over six months after the day when hooks in hightower claimed that they seen a low rider truck at the cleaners we finished the day with woodrow eichner a monroeville police officer who testified that he was the first one to arrive at the cream scene on the day of the murder he asserted that the body of ronda martin was not by the front counter where meyers had testified it was more significantly eichner testified he'd been asked by pearson the trial prosecutor to testify that morrison's body had been dragged through the store from the front counter to the spot where it was found ignore knew that such testimony would be false and had told the prosecutors that he refused to lie he was soon after discharge discharged from the police department at this the judge seemed visibly affected by the proceedings i believe the concerned look on his face revealed confusion about what he was going to do in light of this evidence and i considered the judge newfound confusion and concern to be real progress this was the first evidence that suggested that people in law enforcement had been so set on convicting walter that they were ignoring and even hiding evidence that showed his innocence all the witnesses we called during the first day were white and none had any loyalties to walter mcmillan it seemed that judge norton had not expected that the worry lines in his face were deepening maybe were making some progress with him when woodrow ignored testimony ended it was already deep into the afternoon the judge looked at the clock and called it today i wanted to keep going to continue until midnight if necessary but i realized that that wasn't going to happen i walked over to walter we have to stop now he asked worry lee yes but we'll just pick up and keep going tomorrow morning i smiled at him i was pleased when he smiled back walter looked at me excitedly man i can't tell you how i'm feeling right now all this time i've been waiting for the truth and been hearing nothing but lies right now feels incredible i just a middle aged white officer interrupted us to take walter back to his holding cell i told walter i'd come down later as people filed out the courtroom you could see hope growing among walter's family they came up to me and gave me hugs walter's sister amelia his wife minnie and his nephews guiles were all talking nephew guys were all talking excitedly about the evidence we presented michael is pumped up too chapman should call just call you and say he wants to drop the charges against walter and let him go home let's not hold her breath waiting for that call i replied i arrived at the courthouse early the next morning to visit walter in his basement cell before the proceedings began when i headed upstairs i was confused to see a throng of black folks waiting in the courthouse lobby i went up to amelia who looked at me with concern what's wrong i asked why aren't you all inside the courtroom if there had been a huge crowd yesterday today's hearing had brought more people including several clergy members and older people of color i'd never seen before they won't let us in mr stevenson what do you mean they won't let you in we tried to go in earlier and they told us we couldn't come in what was going on i pushed by the deputy opened the door and saw that the entire courtroom had been altered inside the courtroom door there placed a large metal detector on the other side of which was an enormous german shepherd held back by a police officer the courtroom was already half filled the benches that had been filled by walter's supporters the previous day were now mostly occupied by older white people supporting the morrisons and the prosecution clearly chapman and veleska were trying to keep out walters supporters they were already sitting at the prosecutor's table acting as nothing was going on i was livid i went directly to the judge's chambers to explain to judge norton that walter mcmillan's family and supporters had been denied entry into the courtroom he rolled his eyes mr stevenson your people will just have to get here earlier he said dismissively judge the problem isn't that they weren't here early the problem is they were told they couldn't come into the courtroom no one is being denied entrance to the courtroom mr stevenson he turned to his if he left the room i followed the bailiff and saw him whisper something to the deputy outside the courtroom mr mcmillan's supporters would be led into the courtroom now that it was already half filled i'm sorry everyone i explained to the group they've done something really inappropriate today they'll let you in now but the courtroom is already half filled with people here to support the state there won't be enough seats for everyone there were two ministers in the group one of them a heavyset african-american man dressed in a dark suit with a large cross around his neck walked over to me mr stevenson it's okay please don't worry about us we'll have a few people be our representatives today and we'll be here even earlier tomorrow we won't let nobody turn us around sir minnie amelia walter's children several others went in when the ministers called out mrs williams everyone seemed to smile mrs williams an older black woman stood up and prepared herself to enter the courtroom she precisely adjusted the placement of her small hat and delicately wrapped a long blue scarf around her neck i was thrilled to see all of mr mcmillan's supporters but realized that i needed to go inside myself i hadn't spent the morning preparing for witness as i as i had intended but had instead been drawn into this foolish mistreatment of walter mcmillan's supporters i was standing at council's table when out of the corner of my eye saw that mrs williams had made it to the courtroom door she wasn't a large woman but there was something commanding about her presence i couldn't help but watch her as she moved toward the metal detector she walked more slowly than everyone else but she held her head high with an undeniable grace and dignity she reminded me of older women i'd been around all my life women whose lives were hard but who remain kind and dedicated themselves to building and sustaining their communities mrs williams glanced at the available rose to see where she would sit and then turn to walk through the metal detector and that's when she saw the dog i watched all her composure fall away replaced by a look of absolute fear her shoulders dropped her body sagged and she seemed paralyzed for over a minute she stood there frozen and then her body began to tremble and then shake noticeably i heard her groan tears were running down her face and she began to shake her head sadly then she turned around and hurried out of the courtroom i was trying to shake off the dark feeling that the morning's events had conjured up when the officers brought walter into the courtroom they allowed him to be in the courtroom without handcuffs and he insisted on keeping his ankles shackled despite the state's early morning maneuvers and the bad omen of the dog and mrs williams we had another good day in court state mental health workers who had treated myers confirmed his testimony from the day before dr omar muhabit explained that myers had told him then that the police had framed him to accept the penalty for the murder case that he is accused of or to testify that the man did mohammed reported that myers also told him they told me to say what they wanted me to say evidence from three other doctors confirm further confirmed this testimony including a doctor bernard bryant who testified that myers told him he did not commit the crime and that at the time he was incarcerated for the crime he was threatened and harassed by the local police of authorities into confessing he committed a crime we empha emphasized to the court that all of these statements were made by meyers before the initial trial not only did these statements boost the credibility of meyer's reconciliation but they also been documented in medical records that by law should have been turned over to walters trial lawyers the state supporters and the victims family seemed confused by the evidence we were presenting it complicated the simple narrative they had embraced about walter's guilt and the need for swift and harsh punishment we had maintained a good pace and the cross-examinations had been shorter than i expected by the end of that second day i felt very hopeful i was tired but feeling pleased as i walked to my car that evening to my surprise i noticed mrs williams the older woman from that morning sitting outside the courthouse on a bench alone she stood when our eyes met i walked over remembering how unsettled i had been to see her flee from the courtroom earlier mrs williams i'm so sorry they did what they did this morning they should not have done it and i'm sorry if that upset you but so you know things went well today i feel like we had a good day attorney stevenson i feel so bad i feel so bad she said and grabbed my hands i should have come into that courtroom this morning she began to weep mrs williams it's all right i said they shouldn't have done what they did please don't worry about it i put my arm around her and gave her a hug no no no attorney stevenson i was meant to be in that courtroom i was supposed to be in that courtroom it's okay mrs williams it's okay no sir i wanted to be there i tried i tried lord knows i tried mr stevenson but when i saw that dog she shook her head and stared away with a distant look when i saw that dog i thought about 1965 when we gathered at the edmund pettus bridge in selma and tried to march for our voting rights they beat us and put those dogs on us she looked back to me sadly i tried to move attorney stevenson i wanted to move but i just couldn't do it as she spoke it seemed like a world of sadness surrounded her she let go of my hand and walked away i watched her get into a car with some other people i'd seen in the courtroom earlier i drove back to the motel in a more somber mood to start preparing for the last day of hearings the next morning was the third and final day of the hearing the metal detector and the dog were still there but no deputy stood at the door to block black people from entering when i stood up at the courtroom door there stood mrs williams she was once again dressed impeccably in her scarf and hat i watched as the officers allowed her to move forward she held her head up as she walked slowly through the metal detector repeating over and over i ain't scared of no dog i ain't scared of no dog it was impossible to look away she made it through the detector and stared at the dog then loud enough for everyone to hear she bailed it out i ain't scared of no dog she moved past the dog and walked into the courtroom black folks who were already inside beamed with joy she passed them she sat down near the front of the courtroom and turned to me with a broad smile and announced attorney stevenson i'm here mrs williams it's so good to see you here thank you for coming the courtroom filled up and i started getting my papers together they brought walter into the courtroom the signal that hearing was about to begin that's when i heard mrs williams call my name no attorney stevenson you didn't hear me i said i'm here she spoke very loudly and i was a little confused and embarrassed i turned around and smiled at her no mrs williams i did hear you and i'm so glad you're here when i looked at her though it was as if she was in her own world the courtroom was packed and the bailiff brought the court to order as the judge walked in everyone rose as is the custom when the judge took the bench and sat down everyone else in the courtroom sat down as well there was an unusually long pause as we all waited for the judge to say something i noticed people staring at something behind me and that's when i turned around and saw that mrs william was still standing the courtroom got very quiet all eyes were on her i tried to gesture to her that she should sit but then she leaned her head back and shouted i'm here people chuckled nervously as she took her seat but when she looked at me i saw tears in her eyes in that moment i felt something peculiar a deep sense of recognition i smiled now because i knew she was saying to the room i may be old i may be poor i may be black but i'm here i'm here because i got this vision of justice that compels me to be a witness i'm here because i'm supposed to be here i'm here because you can't keep me away i smiled at mrs williams while she sat proudly for the first time since i started working on the case everything we were struggling to achieve finally seemed to make sense it took me a moment to realize that the judge was calling my name impatiently asking me to begin the last day of hearings went well six people who had been jailed or in prison with ralph myers testified that ralph had told them he was being pressured to give false testimony against walter mcmillan their testimonials were consistent and one explained that myers had written letters saying he didn't even know mr macmillan we saved the most powerful evidence for the end the tapes of thomas tate simon benson and larry ignore interrogating myers on the tapes meyers repeatedly told the police that he didn't know anything about the morrison murder or walter mcmillan the office officers threatened myers and myers resisted framing an innocent man for murder not only did the recordings confirm meyer's reconciliation they exposed the lie that pearson had told the court the jury and mr mcmillan's trial counsel that there were only two statements provided by meyers in fact myers gave at least six additional statements to the police they were all favorable to walter mcmillan and none of them had been disclosed to mr mcmillan's attorneys as was required i called on mr mcmillan's trial lawyers bruce boynton and j.l chestnut to testify about how much more they could have done to win an acquittal a not guilty verdict if the state had turned over the evidence it had suppressed we finished the presentation of our evidence and to our surprise the state put on no rebuttal case i didn't know what they could have presented to deny our evidence but i'd assume they would have present something the judge seemed surprised too he paused and then said he wanted the parties to submit written briefs arguing what ruling he should make we had hoped for this and i was relieved that the court would give us time to explain the significance of all the evidence in writing and assist him in preparing his order an order i hoped would set walter free at the end of three days of intense litigation michael and i set our farewells to the family in the courtroom and left feeling exhausted but satisfied bay mignet where the hearing took place is about 30 minutes from the beautiful beaches on the gulf of mexico we started a tradition of bringing our staff down to the beach each september and we'd all fall in love with the clear spectacular waters of the gulf dolphins could be spotted in the early mornings playfully making their way through the water i'd often thought we should move our office to right there on the water it was michael's idea to hit the beach after the hearing before heading back to montgomery i wasn't sure it was a good idea but the day was warm and the coast was so close i couldn't resist it would soon be dusk but the heat persisted i stood at the water's edge my head racing with everything that had transpired in court i replayed what witnesses had said and worried about whether things had gone exactly right i analyzed every detail on my mind every possible misstep until i caught myself it was over there was no point in making myself crazy by overthinking it now on the sandy shore i watched the brilliant white pelicans glide effortlessly over the still waters in such a search of food walter would be making his way back to holmen's now shackled in the back of the van again i thought about his family and all the people who had come to court they kept the faith through the five years that had passed since walter was first arrested i thought about mrs william she had come up to me after the hearings and had given me a sweet kiss on the cheek i told her how happy i was she'd come back to court she looked at me playfully attorney stevenson you know i wasn't going to let these people keep me out her words had made me smile michael got out of the water looking worriedly what did you see i joked shark eel poisonous jellyfish stingray piranha he was out of breath they threatened us lied to us there are people who have told us that some folks in the county are so unnerved by what we're doing that they're going to kill us what do you think they're going to do now that they know how much evidence we have to prove walter's innocence i had given this some thought to our opponents had done everything they could to frame walter in order to kill him they lied to us and subverted the judicial process more than a few people told us that they heard angry people in the community make threats on our lives because they believed we were trying to help a guilty murderer get off death row i don't know i told michael but we have to press on man we have to press on we both sat there in silence watching the sun fade into darkness that ends on page 161 toodles