Justice for Timothy McKinney

To:  Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen

We the undersigned call for justice for Tennessee death row prisoner Timothy McKinney! Timothy's trial was rife with bias, misconduct and error from start to finish. He deserves a new trial now.

Here are the facts:

* Timothy McKinney sits on Tennessee's Death Row, convicted of a crime that he did not commit, largely due to pervasive government misconduct. An African-American man accused of killing an off-duty police officer during a fight on Christmas Day, 1997, Timothy’s two-day trial was infected with false and misleading evidence. The prosecution presented no physical evidence that could connect Timothy to the crime.

* Timothy received inadequate representation by his court appointed attorney, presenting no evidence, calling no witnesses, or interviewing any of the people who could testify to Timothy's alibi and version of the events.

* In his appeal, Timothy produced over FIFTY witnesses to testify in his defense, including: based on the Memphis police’s own documents, Timothy would not have had time to return to the scene and shoot the police officer; the one piece of physical evidence that prosecution used to link Timothy to the shooting was, at best, untrustworthy.

Memphis Trial Judge A. Bennett allowed the testimony of these witnesses into the permanent record, but Timothy has yet to win a new trial. He is now in the process of appealing to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, a court notorious for denying all petitions.

For all these reasons and more, Timothy deserves a new trial. Gov. Bredesen, take a stand for justice for a innocent man.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Justice for Timothy McKinney Petition to Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen was created by Campaign to End the Death Penalty and written by Dylan Stillwood (dylanstillwood@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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