00:00Well, tonight we're focusing on the criminal justice system in the U.S. and on the case
00:06of an Alabama man who has spent 30 years on death row.
00:10Rocky Myers is a black man who was convicted in 1994 of killing his white neighbor, Ludie
00:15May Tucker.
00:16An almost all-white jury found him guilty of murder despite a lack of physical evidence
00:21and recommended a sentence of life in prison.
00:24And despite that, the judge in the case imposed a death sentence against Myers, who at a young
00:28age was diagnosed with an intellectual disability.
00:33Alabama is one of 27 U.S. states where the death penalty is legal, and it was the first
00:37to execute someone earlier this year.
00:39Siobhan Silk has some background on the case.
00:44Rocky Myers is 62 years old.
00:48He spent 30 of those years on death row.
00:52It doesn't matter what I pray for or pray about, when I lay down at nighttime, I thank
01:00the Lord for getting me through one day.
01:03He was convicted of the 1991 murder of an elderly white neighbor in his city of Decatur
01:08in the southern U.S. state of Alabama, a conviction advocates say was a miscarriage of justice.
01:15Myers had no history of violence.
01:17There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.
01:20Witnesses changed their stories multiple times.
01:24One vital witness later recanted his testimony, saying he had come under pressure from police.
01:29Myers' current legal team say he had poor representation in court.
01:35He is a black man in a small white town in Alabama, and he walked into that courtroom
01:40with an attorney who represented the Ku Klux Klan, and he had 11 white jurors and only
01:44one black juror.
01:46The jury found Myers guilty and recommended a life sentence.
01:50The judge ignored this recommendation, sentencing him to death.
01:54It's a punishment that's disproportionately applied to black defendants, the poor and
01:58the most vulnerable, including people with an intellectual disability, which Myers has.
02:04His chance to appeal was squandered when his then-lawyer abandoned the case without informing
02:09Myers.
02:10Rocky Myers cannot now appeal his conviction in court, but Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has
02:16the power to grant him clemency.
02:21And to discuss this a little bit more, joining us now are Kasey Keaton, the lawyer representing
02:25Rocky Myers, and Mariam Bankson, part of the legal investigative team on the case.
02:30Thanks for being with us here on France 24.
02:33First of all, Kasey, where does this case stand at the moment?
02:36Has a date been set for execution?
02:38And if not, could that happen at any moment?
02:42Currently there has not been a date set for an execution, although previously, back in
02:462015, there was a date, but that was stayed.
02:51And where we are at this point is at any moment, the attorney general of Alabama could ask
02:55for a date from the Alabama Supreme Court.
02:58And you're trying to get public support to urge the government to, or the governor, to
03:02give clemency.
03:03Absolutely.
03:04In Alabama, the only way to have success in a case like this, after you are out of your
03:11appeals, is through the governor of Alabama and seeking clemency.
03:16Mariam, there was no clear evidence, as we heard in that report, as I understand, that
03:19connected Mr. Myers to the crime, except for a video recorder belonging to the victim that
03:24Mr. Myers said he found on the street.
03:27What is the nature of the evidence in this case, and what led this jury to convict?
03:33As far as evidence in this case, again, there's no DNA evidence.
03:37Some of the witnesses that said that it was Mr. Myers that sold the VCR later admitted
03:42that they lied, recanted their statements.
03:45And as far as what led this jury to convict, it's actually interesting, because there were
03:49several jurors who did not think that he was guilty, and they made a deal with each other
03:53in order to spare his life, because they feared what would happen if there was a mistrial,
03:58so they decided to vote him guilty, and compromise with that, that it would give him a life sentence.
04:03Did he make any statements to police that may have implicated him in this case at all?
04:08No, he has maintained his innocence.
04:09Maintained his innocence.
04:10Casey, the judge in this case, imposed a death sentence, even though that didn't follow the
04:14recommendation for the jury.
04:15I know that different states have different rules on this, but how does it work in Alabama?
04:21At the time of the trial, there were three states, actually, that allowed what's called
04:24judicial override.
04:26So the jury simply makes a recommendation, but the judge has the ability to override
04:32that.
04:33At the time Alabama allowed override, Florida and Delaware were the other two states, but
04:40Alabama really stood alone in not having any standards for the judge to make any kind of
04:46written findings.
04:47They simply had the ability to override it.
04:50Given that one of the jurors has come forward to say she regretted the decision, isn't that
04:54a basis for an appeal in this case?
04:56It would be lovely if that were true.
04:59Unfortunately, because of what happened in Mr. Meyer's second tier of appeals, which
05:04is the state post-conviction, where his attorney that had volunteered to represent him abandoned
05:11him, he missed a deadline, and that foreclosed any ability to raise claims in the federal
05:17courts.
05:19Let's talk more about the bigger picture here when it comes to the criminal justice system
05:22in the U.S.
05:23The Innocence Project estimates that 190 people have been executed in the U.S. since 1973,
05:30and they were later exonerated, some of them by DNA evidence.
05:34The vast majority of those folks were black or Latino.
05:38So Miriam, if Rocky Myers were white, do you think he'd even be in jail right now?
05:43Absolutely not.
05:44I think that race has played a part from the beginning of this case.
05:47I think it led to his arrest.
05:49I think it impacted his interactions with the police.
05:51I think the fact that he walked into that courtroom with an attorney that represented
05:55the Ku Klux Klan and then went before a jury of 11 white people and one black person absolutely
06:00impacted his trial.
06:01How did his intellectual disability play into this case?
06:04His intellectual disability is going to play a part in his interactions from the moment
06:08that he's arrested.
06:09It's going to impact his interactions with police, with his attorney, his ability to
06:13understand, his ability to assist in his own representation, and then the fact that he
06:18missed his appeals, and it goes on and on.
06:21Casey, a legal question for you.
06:23The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that executing an intellectually disabled person amounts
06:27to cruel and unusual punishment.
06:29So how is it that Rocky Myers is still on death row?
06:33And again, this goes back exactly to the attorney that dropped Mr. Myers' appeals in that middle
06:41tier of appeals, which meant that in the federal court, the Atkins issue could not be raised.
06:49Previously, it was not raised because two attorneys failed to do any investigative work,
06:54which would have uncovered the fact that Mr. Myers' school records demonstrated that he
06:59had been diagnosed with an intellectual disability at the age of 11.
07:03This has been such a long time, Casey, that you've been representing him.
07:07You wrote at one point your client wanted to give up the fight for clemency because
07:11so much time has passed, he's tired of fighting.
07:14How does he feel now?
07:16The one thing that he has never wavered in is that Rocky Myers wants to live.
07:22He has never not wanted to live.
07:25But initially, when he was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, the things that impacted him
07:31were just this weariness of being consistently told no, but also an issue of dignity because
07:39he did not want to beg for his life.
07:42Why have you been fighting for him for so long?
07:46I think that everybody deserves this kind of fight.
07:49Rocky Myers is a really special human being.
07:53He is a friend at this point, but he is also the son of two people.
07:59He is the sibling to nine individuals.
08:02He is the father of four children.
08:04He has multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
08:08He is a human being and he deserves the opportunity to live like a human being and be treated
08:14like a human being.
08:15I'd like to ask both of you this question.
08:18What is your ultimate hope in this case?
08:20Miriam, you first.
08:21My ultimate hope is that Rocky Myers goes home one day to his children, his grandchildren,
08:27his great-grandchildren.
08:29I think we first have to accomplish that through clemency, at least getting him life without
08:34parole and then going from there.
08:35My dream is that Rocky is free one day.
08:38Are you optimistic that could happen?
08:40I have to be doing this line of work, yes.
08:43And you, Casey?
08:44What's your hope?
08:45I agree with Miriam.
08:46Real justice for Rocky Myers would be him at home.
08:51For right now, as his daughter Karen has said, life without parole would be enough because
08:58he would be able to continue those beautiful relationships that he has with his family
09:03and with his dear friends.
09:04I understand there's a petition circulating, Amnesty International.
09:07How many people have signed it?
09:09I think at our last count, we had almost 900,000 people that had signed that petition.
09:15Okay.
09:16Well, we appreciate you coming in to discuss this case with us.
09:19Casey Keaton, lawyer representing Rocky Myers and Miriam Banks and part of the legal team
09:22investigating this case.
09:24We appreciate your time and joining us here on France 24.
09:28Thank you so much.
09:29Thanks to you both.
09:30That's it for now.
09:31Stay tuned for more world news still to come here on France 24.
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