Just Mercy: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Stevenson requests a direct appeal of Walter’s conviction. In his written brief, he notes several flaws in Walter’s case, including faulty witness testimonies, State misconduct, racial bias in jury selection, and an unnecessary judge override of the jury’s life sentence. At the appeals court in Montgomery, Stevenson appears before Chief Judge John Patterson, the KKK-backed former Alabama governor notorious for resisting de-segregation and refusing to allow law enforcement to protect the Freedom Riders from violent mobs. At the end of Stevenson’s oral argument, Judge Patterson responds by asking Stevenson where he is from. Stevenson, caught off guard, responds that he “lives in Montgomery.” Stevenson regrets dissuading Walter’s family from requesting time off to travel to Montgomery, now wondering if their supportive presence would have helped distinguish Walter’s case. The State’s lawyer defends Walter’s conviction as “routine” and his sentence as “appropriately imposed.” Judge Patterson denies the appeal.

Stevenson encourages Walter to remain hopeful because they have new evidence and several remaining options, including a reconsideration of the direct appeal decision. Stevenson recently hired Michael O’Connor, a son of Irish immigrants and recovered heroin addict originally from a rough neighborhood. Though Michael regards his history of addiction with regret, Stevenson sees his background as an asset to their work. Stevenson and his colleagues have discovered records showing that county officials paid Bill Hooks and “somehow” had his city criminal charges dropped, which is information that the State should legally have disclosed pre-trial. They also found flyers advertising the fish fry held at Walter’s house, which confirmed it was held the day of the murder. They contacted Walter’s mechanic, who discredited Bill Hook’s testimony by confirming that the mechanic modified Walter’s truck six months after Ronda’s murder. Finally, a clerk at the store where Myers was asked to identify Walter confirms that Myers had to ask which black man was Walter.

EJI receives a surprising call from Myers. Although wary of his intentions, they know the case rests on his testimony. When he and Michael meet him at St. Clair prison, Stevenson (who had developed a “larger-than-life image” of Myers) is surprised by Myers’ fragility. Myers immediately declares that, “everything [he] said at McMillian’s trial was a lie.” Myers agrees to recant in court, explaining that he attends a therapy group that encourages self-reflection. Promising that his wrongs could “top” them all, he had told the group about his false testimony and they encouraged him to “make it right.” Myers explains his role in Vickie Pittman’s murder, his forced testimony against Walter and his placement on death row as retaliation by the state. He says he had come clean to several officials, including Ted Pearson. Stevenson considers the immense implications of this corruption. Myers dramatically warns: “they’ll try to kill you if you actually get to the bottom of everything.”

Going home, Stevenson and Michael discuss the corruption Myers described, including his accusation that a local sheriff organized the Pittman murder in reaction to “drug debts and threats she had made to expose corruption.” They decide to get more information from Karen Kelly, who is serving 10 years at the Tutwiler Women’s Prison for the Pittman murder. Karen confirms that Myers never met Walter, and informs them that during her own criminal investigations, Sheriff Tate had taunted her for “sleep[ing] with niggers.” She expresses her regrets that her drug abuse and associations led to such severe consequences for Walter, and asks them to send him her apologies and concern.

To learn more about the Pittman murder, Stevenson and Michael arrange to meet with Vickie Pittman’s twin aunts, Onzelle and Mozelle. The two independent, gun-owning women, who “present themselves as fearless [and] relentless,” are hospitable and direct during their visit. They agree that they too suspected police involvement and Vickie’s father, Vic Pittman. They explain that they have felt dismissed by local officials and the State’s victims rights group, saying that everyone has “treated [them] like [they] were low-class white trash.”

Stevenson writes that in previous decades, the State considered crimes against one person to be crimes against the community. In the 1980’s, prosecutors began focusing more on the stories of individual victims to “personalize” the suffering the crime had caused. Victims became more involved in sentencing and parole boards. He argues that for poor and minority victims, this created a hierarchy among victims based on race, status and background. He writes that crimes against black and poor victims have received much more lenient sentences and less support from police and officials, and he argues that this discrimination contributed to the disrespect felt by families like Mozelle and Onzelle. They tell Stevenson that he is the first person to visit them to discuss Vickie’s murder, and Stevenson assures them he will do his best to uncover more information.

With Walter’s direct appeal pending, Stevenson and Michael file a Rule 32 petition, which would allow them to move directly to a postconviction collateral appeal. At this point, they determine they need access to all of the police, prosecution, prison and ABI files associated with Walter’s case, and the Rule 32 petition would require officials to release them. Unexpectedly, the Alabama Supreme Court approves the petition, indicating they too see something “unusual” about Walter’s case. In a meeting at District Attorney Tom Chapman’s office, Stevenson meets Sheriff Tate and Investigator Larry Ikner for the first time. At this point, it is publicly known that EJI is accusing Tate and Ikner of illegal activity. They hand over all of their files, “remain[ing] civil” except for calling Michael a “Yankee”. Stevenson has them sign off on the files’ contents, despite Chapman’s insistence that he should trust them as fellow “men of the court”.

At home, Stevenson and Michael now read through all of the documents they’ve collected from different sources, including from the mental institution where Myers was admitted, the ABI, and the Pittman murder files from Escambia County. Seeing repeated mentions of the same officials connected to the Pittman murder, they begin to agree with the accusations made by Myers, Mozelle and Onzelle. Stevenson writes: “It wasn’t long after that when the bomb threats started.”