Since police, sheriff's deputies, jailers and highway patrol investigators work for the state, if they turn up anything that casts doubt on the defendant's guilt, the prosecutor must hand it over to the defense. That day in October 2015, Ali was looking at a photo lineup that law enforcement had used to implicate Flowers in the Tardy case. "After a short time, we realized that he didn't know anything about the case.". Back in 1996, there had even been speculation in the media that the crimes could be connected, and investigators had told the local paper they were looking into it. Between June 19th, 1996 and June 30thof that year, Presley was involved in five robberies at gunpoint. So where was Hemphill during the day? That same day, Horace Wayne Miller, a lieutenant with the Mississippi Highway patrol, asked Norfolk officials to keep him apprised of their investigation. The show has won rightful fame for its work helping to save Flowers life. Police arrived at the factory and interviewed employee Katherine Snow. They wanted to ask him about his alibi for the day of the Tardy Furniture murders, an alibi that hadn't checked out. One of them, LaSamuel Gamble, had more money in his possession when he returned to Alabama, Presley said. Its almost impossible to not hate him and to believe he is guilty. The show revealed that the district attorneys office bullied and threatened people into lying on the witness stand. He thought back to when Small took the gun. Prosecutors claimed Flowers wore a size 10.5 shoe, and a state expert testified that the 10.5 size was consistent with the bloody footprints. Find an Obituary . Willie Headen; Willie James Lyons; Willie Love; Willie Mabon; Willie Smith; Willie Trice; Willie Williams; APM Reports, the investigative and documentary reporting team based in St. Paul, Minnesota, spent a year digging into the Flowers case for its In the Dark podcast. Her sister says she was in the house with her and not where she said she was.. Simpson's brother Emmett was an early suspect, too a fact Matthews had himself testified to in the second Flowers trial. In 1996, four people were killed execution-style inside Tardy Furniture, which faces one of the busiest streets in the small town of Winona. When Armstrong first saw the gun in 2001, he thought back five years to the quadruple murder at Tardy Furniture, remembering that authorities had never found a murder weapon. So, if Curtis didnt do this terrible deed, who did? Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. APM lead investigative reporter Madeleine Baran found one page among the documents Evans did give the defense attorneys, a form someone named Willie James Hemphill, then 24, of Memphis had signed at the Winona Police Department five days after the murders waiving his rights to an attorney. When Snow told police that the man she saw was about 5-foot-6, investigator John Johnson corrected her, saying she had already given the heights as 5-foot-10, according to an audio tape obtained by APM Reports. That said, I dont see a compelling motive, and none of these people is any more capable of pulling off an outrage on this scale than poor Curtis Flowers. US States (36975K) Current Events (51K) Celebrity (272) Exonerated (117) Favorites (421) FBI Most Wanted (848) Gangsters (49) Historical (131) Interpol (1.7K) . . The criminals used a .380-caliber handgun that sometimes jammed. Menu. He said he told investigators he was shopping with a woman in Memphis. Willie James Hemphill is confronted by reporters at an Indianapolis courthouse in June 2019. Find out more about our policy and your choices, including how to opt-out. The district's Republicans should nominate James Hemphill as their candidate for Congress in the May 3 primary. "[I]t's almost like a hair trigger that would cause a reversal if you've got false testimony that is significant.". A surveillance camera revealed that the killer was wielding a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. As the investigators interviewed for theWrong Man episodes on Flowers point out, the family members of the victims should have been considered suspects until evidence suggested otherwise. The officer who was with Small when they pulled over Armstrong for speeding told APM Reports that Armstrong had indeed given them a handgun, which was turned over to the district attorneys office. Where were you?, Hemphill: I was in your p***y. He testified in multiple trials that the other images in the photo lineup were just "filler pictures," chosen "at random" based on some resemblance to Flowers. But he believed Gamble's denial. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 7-to-1 that prosecutors unconstitutionally eliminated black jurors during the trial proceedings for Timothy Tyrone Foster in 1987. analysis of his record of striking potential black jurors, Curtis Flowers' prosecution witness says testimony was all 'make believe', Recanted testimony, subjective science helps put Curtis Flowers on death row, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. A bloody shoe print found in the store (left), and an investigator's sketch comparing the print to the Fila Grant Hill sneakers. Willie James Hemphill Birth 27 May 1919 Death 14 Jul 2000 (aged 81) Burial. The ugly facts of Hemphills past werent ugly enough for the podcast In The Dark emphasized its clear disdain of him. Asked if he'd committed the murders at Tardy Furniture, he simply said, "Hell, no.". Hemphill says he was in Memphis on the day of the murder and his alibi might check out. AVERAGE AGE. Then why havent the defense attorneys who have represented Mr. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. When the podcasts reporter Parker Yesko confronted Hemphill about whether he committed the murders, he denied it, and the show included audio of the hideous, misogynistic things he said in response. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family. Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. The investigative file contained no indication of what Hemphill said or why he was eliminated as a suspect. It was June 21 just an hour before the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn Curtis Flowers' conviction and reporters for In the Dark had intercepted Hemphill at a courthouse in Indianapolis. Each victim of the July 16, 1996 murders was murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. Not the right Willie? He said he knew nothing about the burglary. Before he left on July 3, he said she gave him $30. Just weeks ago, however, reporters discovered that Hemphill had an upcoming court date in Indianapolis and met him there. Investigators said the Simpson brothers were eliminated quickly because they were both at work at the time of the murders. But it isnt necessary to prove a case against any of these people; the real scandal is that the existence of alternative suspects was systematically withheld from defense counsel. After learning that Willie James Hemphill was an initial suspect in the murders at Tardy Furniture, reporters for In the Dark wanted to find out if he'd ever broken the law before. He died on December 28, 1908, at his home in the section of Abbeville called Fort Pickens, and is buried in Melrose Cemetary, Abbeville. January 5, 1960 - August 13, 2009. We have lots of information about Willie: religious views are listed as Christian . APM Reports recently interviewed a man named Willie James Hemphill, who said he was a suspect early in the investigation. … A bunch of lies., Asked about Hallmons recantation, District Attorney Doug Evans, who has prosecuted Flowers in all six trials, said, Thats why the judge instructs the jury that a jailhouse informant is not very reliable, because they can change their statements very easily, for any reason. He told the podcast he had an airtight alibi. It was still in the morning time.". … Ive had many trials where no black jurors were struck., But the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Flowers conviction in his third trial, ruling Evans had intentionally struck African Americans from the jury. "I was coming out of Piggly Wiggly and there was a woman, I will never forget her name. Just after the murders, police arrested and jailed him as a suspect, but then let him go. Baran noted that Hemphill was known to love the song Nasty Bitch by Bust Down it was not for kids, Baran said which he would sing and dance to on Winonas streets in those days. Told that Woods had a clear memory of being in Winona on the morning of July 16 and learning, outside the Piggly Wiggly, that the murders had just happened, Hemphill interrupted and altered his story. It might mean letting someone get away with an abominable crime. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case. FUNERAL HOMES. Podcasts should stick to exonerating the innocent. Editor's note: This endorsement editorial was updated on . Share to Tumblr. He said that while in jail he talked to Evans about the Flowers case, and he saw a chance to gain his freedom. An investigative team from American Public Media has uncovered evidence that law enforcement had at least two other suspects in the 1996 quadruple homicide in Winona that put Curtis Flowers on death row information that was not shared with his defense attorneys. He told them that a day or two after the murders he was driving back to Winona from Memphis when his stepfather called him and told him carloads of law enforcement officers had descending on his parents house looking for him. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Williae Hemphill. During nearly 30 years of crimes, Willie James Hemphill has shown a quick temper, and a penchant for daytime robberies and violence against women. At first he was reluctant to divulge who he was with that morning, but later said it was a woman named Twanda Woods. Willie James Hemphill was confronted in an Indianapolis courthouse last week, 23 years after police deemed him an initial suspect but later pursued leads against Flowers. But that doesnt make Doyle a cold killer. I was nowhere around., Reporter: The one thing that makes sense to me is that maybe if you had been on Front Street (where the murders took place) and you had seen something , Hemphill: Im done talking to you, youre trying to put me on Front Street., Reporter: Did you commit the murders that day?, Hemphill: Did you? Though he was a suspect early in the investigation, according to law enforcement records, and questioned extensively, Hemphill was later released after 11 days in jail and ruled out as a suspect for reasons that remain unclear. Hallmon has since admitted he lied. The two men had family in both Boston and Norfolk. And Hemphill had actually lived for a time in Winona. 0 Reputation Score Range. "It just kind of jumped out," Ali said. (Although that figure is, at best, an educated guess.). WINONA Renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said evidence he reviewed of the 1996 Tardy Furniture slayings suggests more than one personcarried out the quadruple murder. APM lead investigative reporter Madeleine Baran found one page among the documents Evans did give the defense attorneys, a form someone named Willie James Hemphill, then 24, of Memphis had signed . It was his legal obligation, but its easy to see why he didnt. In the course of these crimes, one employee was shot in the leg and another in the back (both survived) and Presley was the shooter in both cases. Armstrong questions whether Flowers could have carried out the killings of four people execution-style. Mark Weingarten is an American production sound mixer.He has been nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound Mixing, winning in 2017 for Dunkirk.He has worked on more than 120 films since 1987. At the time of his first known arrest, in 1990, he was an 18-year-old high school dropout bouncing back and forth between his mother's house in Memphis, Tennessee, and Winona, where his grandmother lived. The host, Madeleine Baran, carefully noted that only some of evidence seemed to point in Hemphills direction, even though a flimsy case was enough to almost execute the man her show just found innocent. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. Current Address: EHZR Hannah Dr, Rock Hill, SC. So, if Curtis Flowers isnt guilty, who is? Ive been confused of the day from the beginning. And Gamble wore Fila sneakers the same brand of shoe that left a bloody footprint at the Tardy Furniture scene. A witness whose statement put a man on death row for 22 years has performed a remarkable backflip, turning a case on its head. December 6, 1948 August 11, 2018. That was a lie, Hallmon told APM Reports in an interview on a contraband cellphone from his prison cell. Maybe he and Doyle were co-perpetrators. Curtis Flowers, as any prison guard who has ever worked with him can tell you, has no demons. We know that Willie James Hemphill had been residing in Gaffney, Cherokee County, South Carolina 29341. "The best of my recollection, Mississippi was able to determine that our guys weren't the ones, or there was something that didn't make them right for the Mississippi case," said Mike DeHart, the Alabama sheriff's deputy who questioned Gamble. Search by Name Search . Willie James McDaniel Funeral services for Willie James McDaniel will be held at 12:00 p.m., Wednesday, January 26, 2022, at Hemphill Star Church in Boyce, La. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. It takes no imagination at all to imagine Marcus Presley committing a crime like thatwe have the video from the pawn shop. When In The Dark spoke to Woods, she denied the two were together. He never responded. Not long after Armstrong found the gun in October 2001, two police officers happened to pull him over for speeding. OBITUARIES. More importantly, Woods said she was certain that she didn't make the trip with Hemphill that day. Yet despite a number of theft and drug charges, probation violations, at least four domestic violence convictions and a girlfriend who alleges he stabbed her 13 times Hemphill has managed to avoid a long stint in prison. Hemphill, Willie Mae Willie Mae Hemphill, Born March 8, 1926. Marcus Presley, then 16, points a gun at pawn shop owner John Burleson shortly before killing him on July 25, 1996, in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. Burial will be at Barber Memorial Cemetery But how could a single person (especially a man like Curtis Flowers) dispatch four victims with a bullet to the back of the head? Willie James Hemphill didn't come up until the sixth Flowers trial, and law enforcement officers said he was eliminated as a suspect in about five minutes. He told the Commonwealth, I think these (APM Reports) folks are just coming up with anything they can to discredit the case. During the sixth Flowers trial, Matthews, who worked with Miller at the Mississippi Highway Patrol, said the only suspect in the case aside from Flowers was Doyle Simpson, whose gun the prosecution argued Flowers stole and used as the murder weapon. In fact, it appears Miller had specifically asked for the photo of Presley from an investigator in Virginia, where Presley and his accomplice, LaSamuel Gamble, were apprehended. The Dallas Morning News. That discovery will very likely win Curtis a new trial, but it doesnt necessarily finger the new guy as the killer. Hemphill's ex-girlfriend Monkra Moore told In the Dark that she and Hemphill lived together on the east side of Winona in 1996 and that he was at home around 7 a.m. on the morning of the murders when she was leaving for work. It remains unclear why Mississippi investigators ruled them out as suspects. Simplistic journalism ethics call for reporters to follow the facts wherever they might lead. While that case was delayed for more than two years, Hallmon murdered three people, including his ex-girlfriend, Marquita Hill, and her mother. No one was going to all that trouble over the approximately $400 investigators say was in the till that morning. Lived In Sidon MS, Indianapolis IN, Prince George VA, Clarksville TN. Hired by Starz to examine the case, Saums said the crime"suggests somebody who has done it before. Search by Name. Willie James Hemphill, age 37, Justice, IL Search Report. If it hadnt been for a single slip of paper in the prosecutors file with Willie James Hemphills name on it, theIn the Dark squad wouldnt have known about the man. Look, Ive got something yall need to get, he said he told them. Service: 11 am Saturday, March 3, 201. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. When he showed up the Montgomery County Sheriffs Department two days later, he said, they immediately cuffed him and that the investigators made it clear he was a suspect. The funeral service will be 1pm Sunday at China Grove A.M.E. Zion Church. It happens. UNLOCK PROFILE. Following that arrest, Hemphill committed crimes nearly continuously for the next three decades. Me and her was leaving," he said, forfeiting his Memphis alibi altogether and placing himself a short walk from Tardy Furniture. Whoever killed the four victims in Winona was beset by demons. After months of looking for Twanda Woods, In the Dark reporters located her a few months ago at her trailer in Winona, half a mile south of Tardy Furniture. Menu. Follow him onFacebookandTwitter. As I argue in the course of the program, Simpson seemed to be bending over backwards to let the world know that a gun had been stolen from his car in the parking lot of the garment factory where he worked. "Yeah we was leaving. The podcast has never cared about the fundamental horrors of the justice system; it just wants to ensure that those horrors only happen to the correct people. During nearly 30 years of crimes, he's shown a quick temper, and a penchant for daytime robberies and violence against women. ", If Evans and his prosecution witnesses knowingly or unknowingly withheld evidence from the defense of other suspects in the Winona killings, they could be in violation of the Brady rule, named after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says a criminal defendant must be given evidence that could point toward his innocence. In the midst of the probe, the Mississippi Crime Lab sent a copy of the bloody shoeprint found at Tardy to the lead Boston investigator. Lab officials, however, say the gun never arrived and was never tested. As far as him telling me he killed some people, hell, naw, he aint ever told me that. After learning that Willie James Hemphill was an initial suspect in the murders at Tardy Furniture, reporters for In the Dark wanted to find out if he'd ever broken the law before. And the investigative file not shared with the defense showed investigators had considered Marcus Presley, the gunman in the murders and a string of similar crimes that same summer in neighboring Alabama. The Tardy Furniture murders were committed at a store on Front Street in Winona, Mississippi, at about 10 a.m., and around the time that one of the store's employees, Carmen Rigby, was returning with a bank bag. NEWSPAPERS. So, if I am forced to pick an alternative perpetrator in this awful case I would lean toward the Birmingham Boys, Presley in particular. Selected filmography. It wasn't that day." And he's shown a quick and violent temper, particularly with women who don't comply with his demands. Presley and Gamble were extradited to Alabama, and again Gamble was questioned, almost in passing, about Mississippi. Hemphill was born on September 10, 1971. Photos. Willie James Hemphill has done many terrible things. Records show he was questioned Hemphill said he was interrogated for hours and held for 11 days before being released. The weapon in at least some of the Alabama cases was a .380 handgun that tended to jam. Miller also asked the investigator to interrogate Presley and Gamble about the Tardy Furniture murders. Baran found Hemphills booking card showing he had been arrested and jailed a few days after the killing. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case . Saums believes whoever carried out the crime had inside information. Willie Hemphill in Virginia. Evans has spoken to the Greenwood Commonwealth, most recently about APM Reports analysis of his record of striking potential black jurors vs. white juries 4 1/2 times more often. Username. INDIANAPOLIS At first, Willie James Hemphill was calm. This case was filed in U.S. Courts Of Appeals, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. That brings us to a theory that has been explored extensively by some of the folks currently representing Mr. They said they didnt have a case against me.. The Dallas Morning News. <p>Prosecutors have always said that Curtis Flowers was the only serious suspect in the Tardy Furniture investigation. In that 1963 ruling, the court said: "The suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment.". In the months before the Tardy Furniture murders, Presley hit a grocery store, a fireworks retailer, three gas stations and three liquor stores. His alibi is weak, according to In The Dark. Montgomery County Sheriff Bill Thornburg searched Moores home and found a size 10.5 Fila Grant Hill shoebox in a dresser at her house. Photos. . Thats just standard procedure. Jessie Mae Hemphill; Jimmie Gordon; Jimmy "Duck" Holmes; Jimmy Burns; Jimmy Dawkins; Jimmy Holmes; Jimmy Johnson; . But if Curtis Flowers doesnt get relief in the face of these well-publicized facts there will be hell to pay. Willie James Hemphill was detained for 11 days following the Hardy Furniture murders and wore the same brand of shoes as the bloody footprints found at the scene. Twenty-two years on death row. Nor was there any record of the evidence gathered from Hemphill. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. When reporters talked to Hemphill last year, he said investigators cleared him because he had an alibi he called it "airtight." Law enforcement witnesses had testified under oath in Flowers sixth trial that Presley was never a suspect. Past Addresses: Shelby NC, Shelby NC +7 more. Prosecutors said repeatedly at trial that the only suspect seriously investigated was Flowers. Quantico . 0 Rate Willie. 20181228 Willie James Hemphill Criminal Civil Records Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. WIILIE HEMPHILL OBITUARY. NEWS & ADVICE. Are you a sl*t? "I can't recall seeing him that day," Woods said. He died on May 27, 2008 at age 66. On July 2, the podcast, which has been downloaded more than 24 million times in its second season, laid out a lengthy argument that a different man, Willie James Hemphill, committed the 1996 murders. The fourth and fifth trials ended with hung juries. They did, however, find bullets, bullet fragments and shell casings at the crime scene. The whole time Ive been telling them, I dont remember the day, Fleming said. Evidence of false testimony by prosecution witnesses could potentially get Flowers' conviction overturned, Bennett Gershman, a former prosecutor who now teaches law at Pace University, told the APM reporting team. . Small is now claiming that I never gave (the gun) to him, Armstrong said. Both his father, Archie, and his sonbelieve he will be free one day. District Attorney Doug Evans insisted he'd given the defense access to all records of the investigation. You may also light a candle in honor of Willie James . Nationwide News Pty Ltd 2023. I aint saying nothing bad. James Graham, was a blues pianist and her mother, Virgie Lee Graham, was skilled in many instruments, though she did not . Menu. We went to boot camp together., The officers denial dont make me mad, he said. View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. Police received a call about the murders at 10:21 a.m. Katie Ali had been researching parallels between the Tardy Furniture murders and a string of similar crimes that had happened that same summer in neighboring Alabama. Visitation will be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m . If, hypothetically, theIn the Dark team was charged with defending Curtis in a seventh trial even an all-white jury selected entirely of Winona residents couldnt find him guilty. He's also targeted women in general and often women carrying purses. . 1809 Gatewood Aven, Greensboro, NC 27405-6727 is the last known address for Willie. For Flowers, the new information including Flemings changed story adds weight to his case for a full acquittal. Finding the truly guilty person (or people) strengthens the case that Flowers is innocent. And that's what I know," said David Goldberg, now retired from his job as a detective in the Norfolk Police Department. Hemphill supposedly had an alibi for the time of the murders, but when In The Dark dug into it, they were able to determine his alibi was barely credible if at all. The day in photos. On April 30, 2018, American Public Medias true crime podcast In The Dark began airing its second season, an investigation of the case of Curtis Flowers, a black man in Mississippi accused of a quadruple homicide at a furniture store in 1996. LOW HIGH. Early voting has begun. And there he was. "I was out of the whole jurisdiction in another state.". And he was undeterred, at first, when he was told that Woods hadn't corroborated his story. 0.68 2.43 /5. Even before finding the gun, Armstrong had doubts about whether Flowers played a role in the quadruple murder. Mr. Willie James Hemphill, of 1119-101 Kevin Lane, died Thursday, November 9, 2017. Curtis Flowers was raised in a loving home by a gospel-singing father and a mother known for her culinary and entrepreneurial abilities. John Johnson, the DAs investigator, told the jury, I think they talked to him for five minutes. Yes and no. According to Yesko and Mann (2019), Hemphill dropped out of high school and was living back and forth from his mother's house to his grandmother's. One of them wore Grant Hill Fila sneakers. Does this theft provide a clue as to how the killers made their getaway? Law enforcement clearly saw Hemphill as a prime suspect. The first of these events took place last month when the US Supreme Court tossed out Flowers conviction. Because Mr. Evans didnt tell them about the Alabama connection.