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Summary: Chapter Eleven: I’ll Fly Away—Part I
Amid bomb threats to the office, Stevenson receives the judge’s ruling from Walter’s hearing: No relief is granted because Ralph was perjuring himself at either the trial or the hearing. Stevenson notes that the judge addressed none of the legal claims or the witness statements aside from Ralph’s testimony. Stevenson remains optimistic about their chances in the Alabama appeals court, however, because his organization has won many reversals on death penalty cases.
The threats to his office make Stevenson realize he needs the community to understand that Walter is innocent, not a dangerous drug dealer as portrayed in local papers. While he needs to be careful because most people in the South are wary of national media, Stevenson allows 60 Minutes to do a piece on Walter that summarizes the new evidence that Stevenson had uncovered. The segment creates doubt in the community about Walter’s guilt and brings up uncomfortable questions about racism in law enforcement. While District Attorney Chapman dismisses the idea that racial bias played any role in Walter’s prosecution, Stevenson later finds out that privately, Chapman ordered a new investigation into Ronda Morrison’s murder. The agents from the Alabama Bureau of Investigations quickly determine that Walter had nothing to do with her death.
Summary: Chapter Eleven: I’ll Fly Away—Part II
Stevenson and the Alabama Bureau of Investigations learn that they both identified the same suspect as Ronda Morrison’s real murderer. Stevenson has communicated with this man, and he shares his information with the investigators. Stevenson wants to get Walter out of prison immediately, but the attorney general wants to keep Walter in prison until a new arrest is made. Stevenson calls the office to ask for concession of a legal error, which could get Walter released sooner. Instead, the attorney general asks the court to put a stay on Walter’s appeal while they investigate, which Stevenson opposes.
Less than six weeks later, the court invalidates Walter’s conviction and orders a new trial. Stevenson doesn’t think the state will retry him and promises to get him home as soon as possible.
Stevenson calls District Attorney Chapman and says he is going to file a motion to dismiss all charges against Walter, which the State joins. Walter’s wife, Minnie, worries about Walter returning home after the turmoil of the past six years, and wants him to stay in Montgomery instead. At the hearing, the judge quickly grants the motion, and Walter is free. Stevenson and Walter answer a few questions from the press and then go to the prison to pick up Water’s belongings, where they are followed by a big crowd of friends, family, media, and curious community members. The men in prison all congratulate Walter on his freedom.
Summary: Chapter Twelve: Mother, Mother
Chapter Twelve introduces Marsha Colbey, a poor white woman who lived with her husband and large family in a FEMA trailer. She got pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn baby, whom the family named Timothy and buried. A neighbor noticed that Marsha was no longer pregnant but had no baby, and called the authorities. The forensic pathologist ruled that the baby was born alive, and prosecutors charged Marsha with capital murder.
Stevenson explains that poor women with inadequate healthcare tend to experience higher stillbirth rates, but women are being blamed for these deaths. At Marsha’s trial, many partial jurors were seated, and despite a lack of credible evidence, Marsha was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison at Tutwiler, an overcrowded and dangerous prison for women staffed with guards who regularly raped and abused the inmates. The majority of women housed with Marsha at Tutwiler had been convicted of nonviolent and other minor crimes, and Stevenson notes that their imprisonment put their own children at risk. Stevenson represents Marsha and gets her a new trial. Eventually, he also wins a settlement for Marsha and a release from prison ten years after she was initially imprisoned. In 2013, Stevenson chooses Marsha as one of the honorees at his annual benefit dinners in New York City.
Analysis
In these chapters, Stevenson shows how public perception can affect what happens in the justice system. Long convinced of McMillian’s guilt, some members of the public prove unwilling to believe in his potential innocence, as illustrated by bomb threats to Stevenson’s office. During the trial, the state’s supporters leave the courtroom as evidence of McMillian’s innocence adds up, suggesting they’ve already condemned him and no amount of facts will change their minds. In contrast, with the discussion of the trial growing in the community, more people come forward with claims of misconduct and corruption by law enforcement, illustrating the value to the community of bringing miscarriages of justice to light. When business leaders start asking District Attorney Chapman tough questions about the case in light of national media attention, his request for a new ABI investigation suggests that the money and status had an influence that McMillian’s community did not. Plus, as the public sees Chapman as the face of the state’s conviction, the new investigation suggests his unwillingness to risk his reputation on crumbling facts. As Stevenson demonstrates, public perception, when used in a positive manner, has the power to compel action and bring about change.
Media features the power to impact public perception of criminal cases in positive and negative ways. The local press paints a picture of McMillian as a drug dealer, gang leader, and sexual predator, showing their bias through a narrative as fictional as To Kill a Mockingbird. Coverage in the national media, which details the facts Stevenson presents in court, stands in sharp contrast to local media, which reacts based on fear. Though the local media spreads mistrust of the national outlets, national coverage shows its power when business leaders question the district attorney’s handling of the case. Their questions are all about perception and profit. They don’t want the area to be seen as racist, which could impact business opportunities. Their concerns have less to do with an innocent man being sentenced to death on false charges than with profit margins. According to Stevenson, the national media coverage won’t impact McMillian’s trial but may make life easier upon his release, reinforcing the media’s power to impact public perception.
Though Stevenson’s work compels the court to invalidate the conviction, the trauma Walter’s time on death row causes is permanent. McMillian’s trauma can be measured in losses. This case cost him six years of his life, his marriage, his business, his reputation. The state’s request to maintain the status quo, keeping McMillian in prison until they can arrest a new suspect, suggests the system’s lack of understanding of the fear and despair experienced by death row prisoners. It also displays a complete lack of responsibility and empathy for the trauma the miscarriage of justice caused McMillian and his family. Stevenson’s reckoning with the permanent nature of the injuries to his client for the first time suggest that even proximity to another’s situation does not always allow for complete understanding. Though the day of Walter’s release marks a happy occasion, Stevenson’s anger and his statement to the court about the work still to be done highlight that the systemic issues that resulted in McMillian’s trauma continue to impact others.
By shifting next to Marsha Colbey’s story, Stevenson shows how the corruption that impacts the lives of Black men also affects other disadvantaged people in society such as women in poverty. Stevenson introduces the idea of “the dangerous mother story” to demonstrate the power of media and public perception. Stevenson demonstrates the distortion, bias, and presumption of guilt that mothers in poverty face. He reinforces the criminalization of poverty through stories of women who pass bad checks or commit minor property crimes, as well as women like Colbey who suffer stillbirths because of lack of medical care. Up to 80 percent of these women have young children who end up at greater risk without their mothers, showing that this belief system is detrimental. Stevenson also highlights the irony of Tutwiler Prison, named after a woman committed to humane conditions for prisoners, as the women incarcerated there face severe overcrowding, as well as rampant physical and sexual abuse. Stevenson suggests the dual nature of media by noting the changes made for inmate safety at Tutwiler following media coverage. The positive results stand in contrast to the negative impact of the dangerous mother narrative.
