In addition, one jailhouse snitch has recanted, he said. John Johnson, the DAs investigator, told the jury, I think they talked to him for five minutes. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. James Graham, was a blues pianist and her mother, Virgie Lee Graham, was skilled in many instruments, though she did not . He wouldnt have had the (mental) capability, he said. In the months before the Tardy Furniture murders, Presley hit a grocery store, a fireworks retailer, three gas stations and three liquor stores. Add a Memory. Whoever killed four innocent people in the Tardy Furniture store on that fateful day in 1996 was familiar with armed violence and kind of liked it. When reporters talked to Hemphill last year, he said investigators cleared him because he had an alibi he called it "airtight." Asked if she remembered where she was when the murders happened, she recalled the morning clearly. In The Dark proved that Curtis Flowers was railroaded by an unjust system. View Willie Hemphill results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Name. And why didnt DA Doug Evans even consider the Presley-Gamble connection? View Willie Smith results in Kingwood, TX including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. He told us the truth … The statement that he gave in court I made sure was the truth before we used it.. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window). ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. Willie James Hemphill, age 37, Justice, IL Search Report. And in the first Flowers trial, in 1997, he testified that "there were numerous suspects" in the early days of the investigation. Me and Twanda was out of town," he said. In the sixth trial, inmate Odell Hallmon testified that Flowers told him about carrying out the Tardy murders, helping lead to Flowers conviction. James appears the first time in the 1870 Federal Census as a six year-old, living with two brothers and a sister on his parents farm in Lampasas County, Texas. Prior to his death, Doyle came across as a passive man working hard to stay out of trouble. Now the spotlight is on three other deaths that are linked to the case. Passed away February 25, 2012. Reporter: Mr Hemphill. Who was he? Includes Address(1) Phone(2) Email(1) See Results. Willie James Hemphill was born on June 2, 1941. She said the shoes had belonged to her son, who no longer lived there. The presence of live ammunition on the floor suggested that one of the killers was using a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. Contacts (5) Locations (10) Family (3) Social (2) He died on May 27, 2008 at age 66. US States (36975K) Current Events (51K) Celebrity (272) Exonerated (117) Favorites (421) FBI Most Wanted (848) Gangsters (49) Historical (131) Interpol (1.7K) . View More. 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. Share to Tumblr. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. In a sworn statement, one of those criminals, Marcus Pressley, told Flowers' lawyers thattwo of his accomplices in the Alabama crimes were in Mississippi at the time of the Tardy murders. But attempting to deliver another black man into that same system goes against its good work. A defense expert responded in a sworn statement that the bloody footprints left behind by the popular shoe could havebeen anywhere between sizes 8.5 and 11. On July 14, his mother, Lola, died of surgery complications. 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. Hemphills name came up briefly in Flowers 2010 trial. He was born on December 6, 1948 in Weir, Mississippi the son of Eddie Allen and Garner Lee Edwards Hemphill. Following his release from prison in 2013,Hallmon tried to run over a Carroll County sheriff's deputy while escaping a drug bust. And Hemphill had actually lived for a time in Winona. Burial will follow in Hemphill Star Cemetery, Boyce. Willie James Hemphill has done many terrible things. Gamble never discharged his weapon. While he was working July 3, he loaded golf cart batteries into the back of a truck. 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. Hemphill, now almost 50, hasnt been arrested for violence in more than a decade, according to the rap sheet assembled on In The Darks website. "He would have just told me everything and anything at that point," Goldberg said. Share to Twitter. The podcasts decision to try to figure out who may have actually committed the murders at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona, Mississippi isnt surprising. A burglary took place at Tardy Furniture just eight days before the killings. Explosive end to case thats rocked America. And so, in the corridors of the courthouse last week, a female journalist with In The Dark confronted Hemphill about his airtight alibi. His full criminal history is too lengthy to reproduce here. For Flowers, the new information including Flemings changed story adds weight to his case for a full acquittal. Miller, the Mississippi investigator who made the lineup and asked for the two to be interrogated, declined to answer questions from APM Reports. Hemphill certainly sounds like a career criminal who is fully capable of committing violence; but he doesnt come off as a psychopathic killerand whoever did the deed at the Tardy furniture store was either a hired killer (or killers) or enjoyed killing people for kicks. Lab officials, however, say the gun never arrived and was never tested. Evidence suggests that Marcus Presley was a psychopath who enjoyed random violence for its own sake. Fourteen lawyers. It wasnt until 2016 that defense lawyers took a closer look at Armstrongs statement that he found a .380 handgun. Usually if somebody starts shooting, he said, others will run.. Because Mr. Evans didnt tell them about the Alabama connection. (Page 3) And if the two had spent just an hour at the mall assuming the mall, which is now closed, opened as early as 9 a.m. they'd have needed to leave Winona no later than 7 o'clock that morning. Finding the truly guilty person (or people) strengthens the case that Flowers is innocent. The murders rocked the small town. Nor was there any record of the evidence gathered from Hemphill. A witness whose statement put a man on death row for 22 years has performed a remarkable backflip, turning a case on its head. 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. Then why havent the defense attorneys who have represented Mr. That night, according to Moore, Hemphill was home with an ounce of marijuana, some of which they smoked together. INDIANAPOLIS At first, Willie James Hemphill was calm. AVERAGE AGE. Episode 10 of the In the Dark Podcast was largely dedicated to the strange case of Willie James Hemphill, a local bad boy with a violent streak who was continually getting cross-ways with the law. But instead of stopping there, its reporters started snitching to the same system whose injustice they had just unmasked. Burial will be at Barber Memorial Cemetery He told the podcast he had an airtight alibi. Why was he questioned? Resides in Greenwood, MS. Memphis is two hours north of Winona, just across the border with Tennessee. On 03/12/2020 Willie Hemphill filed a Prisoner - Other Prisoner lawsuit against Warden. The Dallas Morning News. Willie Ray Hemphill, Jr., 49, of Bryan, passed away Thursday, August 13, 2009 at his residence. The district's Republicans should nominate James Hemphill as their candidate for Congress in the May 3 primary. Investigators John Johnson and Jack Matthews denied on the stand knowing anything about them. In addition, he won an Emmy for the television show The West Wing.. Submit an Obituary. 23 Matches for Willie Hemphill . He will be held in a county jail while its decided if he should face trial for a stunning seventh time. A photo array that contains Marcus Presley (No. | BillionGraves We are testing a new layout for the record page. And Gamble wore Fila sneakers the same brand of shoe that left a bloody footprint at the Tardy Furniture scene. District Attorney Doug Evans argues that Flowers, enraged with losing his job, stole a gun out of a parked car at the Angelica garment factory, cooled his heels at home for an hour or so, then marched to the furniture store with murder in his eye, did the foul deed, and raced home. Flowers, who had been fired from the store 13 days before the murders, reportedly owed a small amount of money to one of the owners. But the investigative file turned over to Flowers defense attorneys didnt mention the possible link. Hemphill seemed surprised when reminded that he'd told In the Dark in June 2018 that he was with an old friend named Twanda Woods. It hurts my feelings.. If Woods had been at the mall with Hemphill at the time of the murders roughly 10 a.m. she couldn't have been back in Winona any earlier than noon. And the gun that Armstrong says he discovered is additionally important . "Because once you get people on a roll to admitting to crimes, they just don't stop. 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. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. FUNERAL HOMES. He died on December 28, 1908, at his home in the section of Abbeville called Fort Pickens, and is buried in Melrose Cemetary, Abbeville. Just after the murders, police arrested and jailed him as a suspect, but then let him go. Yet theyre willing to hand him over to the prosecution, to possibly watch him die. "If he's guilty, he's guilty.". She lived in Winston, Mississippi, United States in 1930 and Beat 2, Winston, Mississippi, United States in 1940. 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. Free this man. He attended Erskine College, where he earned a A.B. Information APM Reports obtained from the Montgomery County Sheriffs Department through a public records request shows Hemphill was held for 11 days in jail. . 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. He has been behind bars ever since. Detective Goldberg got Presley and Gamble to confess their roles in a pair of murders at a Birmingham pawn shop less than two weeks after the Tardy Furniture murders. Courtroom testimonyshows that Presley was the shooter in the pawn shop murders in Birmingham even though, prior to being shown video of the crime, he insisted that Gamble had been the gunman. They fell out and broke. Willie Headen; Willie James Lyons; Willie Love; Willie Mabon; Willie Smith; Willie Trice; Willie Williams; The second season of the In the Dark podcast is about the case of Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same crime. Sympathy Ideas. . "I don't understand how she said that.". Willie James Hemphill Addresses Click Here For Willie James Hemphill's Last Known Address 1241 Hatfield Dr, Evansville, IN 47714 1001 Mississippi Ave, Greenwood, MS 38930. 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. Presley and Gamble were extradited to Alabama, and again Gamble was questioned, almost in passing, about Mississippi. Not long after Armstrong found the gun in October 2001, two police officers happened to pull him over for speeding. Montgomery County Sheriff Bill Thornburg searched Moores home and found a size 10.5 Fila Grant Hill shoebox in a dresser at her house. By licks he meant places to rob.. A shoeprint in a pool of blood found in the Winona furniture store was found to be from a Grant Hill Fila shoethe footwear Gamble, McKenzie (and just about every other young man in America) was wearing while in Mississippi. 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. It took the In the Dark team a full year to track Hemphill down in an Indianapolis courtroom (he's still getting into trouble). Obituaries Section. Just weeks ago, however, reporters discovered that Hemphill had an upcoming court date in Indianapolis and met him there. Wiilie Hemphill passed away in Bryan, Texas. And he was undeterred, at first, when he was told that Woods hadn't corroborated his story. Phone Number: (704) 751-NZMM +2 phones. Willie James Hemphill was born on May 27, 1919. During nearly 30 years of crimes, he's shown a quick temper, and a penchant for daytime robberies and violence against women. Search by Name. Gamble told me that they saw a few licks while they were in Mississippi. Later, he said, one of the officers, Vince Small, came by, and he handed the officer the gun. Its almost impossible to not hate him and to believe he is guilty. And that's what I know," said David Goldberg, now retired from his job as a detective in the Norfolk Police Department. "Best I remember is somebody brought it to the attention of the investigators that they wanted us to talk to him, and he came in and we talked to him," Matthews said on the stand in the sixth trial. 5 Visits. Shortly after the killings, police arrested Hemphill, then 24, who was wearing a pair of the Grant Hill Fila shoes. Email Address: w XMLS @yahoo.com +1 email. Whoever killed the four victims in Winona was beset by demons. Following their Alabama crime spree, Presley and Gamble fled north to Boston, where Gamble had relatives. 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. 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. In October 2015, some 20 years after the murders, Katie Ali, one of Flowers attorneys in his appeal, recognized him in the photo lineup law enforcement used to implicate Flowers: In those Alabama crimes, store employees were shot execution-style with a .380 handgun the same type weapon used in the Tardy Furniture Store killings that might have jammed, and a suspect was wearing Fila shoes the same type shoe found from a bloody shoe print at the scene. Send Flowers. The fourth and fifth trials ended with hung juries. A woman who admitted having sex with a 13-year-old boy and becoming pregnant with his baby has avoided jail 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. Photos. But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. The killer or killers could have used the key to enter the side door, perhaps hiding before the store opened. UNLOCK PROFILE. Why offer up another suspect? On July 19, the Clarion Ledger did just that, finding wires, broken concrete blocks, parts of childrens toys and a plastic dog bone. He quoted Bertha Tardy as saying he would have to be responsible for paying for the batteries. The funeral service will be 1pm Sunday at China Grove A.M.E. Zion Church. Injustice flourishes in the darkness, and the sun is now blazing in the heavens (at least for Curtis Flowers). "I don't know nothing about it.". At first, Willie James Hemphill was calm. American Public Media reports that Hemphills ex-girlfriend Monkra Moore said she and Hemphill lived together in 1996 and claimed that he was home in Winona at around 7am on the morning of the murders. Marcus Presley sometimes accompanied by LaSamuel Gamble had committed a string of robberies in 1996 in and around Birmingham, with the same modus operandi. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. The suspects include the gunman in an Alabama crime spree that summer that bore several similarities to the Winona killings and a violent career criminal who at the time of the murders was living with a girlfriend across from the furniture store. 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. Her new position on exactly what happened that morning is likely to be heard by a jury if Fleming faces one for a seventh time. Flowers has remained imprisoned the entire time, for more than 20 years. We have lots of information about Willie: religious views are listed as Christian . The only other such form in the file was signed by Flowers. But Curtis Flowers is somehow still not cleared of the gruesome quadruple murder on July 16, 1996. Gamble and Presley are serving life in prison for their Alabama crime spree. And Hemphill had a history of committing crimes in Winona and Memphis. listing of 6209011-20040428-Willie-James-Hemphill-Criminal-Civil_jp2.zip; file as jpg timestamp size; 6209011-20040428-Willie-James-Hemphill-Criminal-Civil_jp2/ . The case status is Pending - Other Pending. Eight days before these murders, a side door key was stolen. Asked to clarify what he'd just said, Hemphill became agitated. Curtis Flowers, as any prison guard who has ever worked with him can tell you, has no demons. 0 Reputation Score Range. What follows are selected incidents from his past. While Presley drove the action, Gamble kept his gun trained on the scene in case anyone tried to flee. His age is 79. 0 Rate Willie. "You're confusing me. Saums said it makes sense the killers would have left through the side door, rather than go out the front door onto busy Front Street, the small towns main drag. I dont think they learned anything.. Maybe theyll cover that in their next season. "They were investigating that intently back then. In the Dark,episode 10, makes it clear that the prosecution committed what is called a Brady violation by failing to inform defense counsel that Hemphill had been a suspect early in the investigation. Following that arrest, Hemphill committed crimes nearly continuously for the next three decades. Willie James Hemphill in Georgia Fulton County arrested for U/S VGCSA POSS* BLOG; CATEGORIES. Willie Hemphill is 80 years old and was born on 04/13/1942. Their pattern was to spend a week or so lying low before going on another rampage. But both denied having committed the Tardy murders and said they'd never even been to Mississippi. He didn't work on July 4, a holiday, and didn't show up for work on July 5, 6 or 8. An August 15, 1996, article in The Winona Times reported that law enforcement officials in three states "released statements that they believe [Presley and Gamble] could be linked to Winona's case.". Hemphill: A lot of people dont like to talk to the press and the police., Reporter: She was actually pretty talkative., Hemphill: Maybe she dont recall the day in question., Reporter: She actually has a really clear memory of that day., Hemphill: I dont know what she told you. State investigator Matthews told the jury he didnt check Hemphills alibi, ruling him out by conversation alone. The ordeal of Curtis Flowers screams for correction. View the profiles of professionals named "Willie Hemphill" on LinkedIn. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Willie James Hemphill (1952 - 2006) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. Presley was the tougher of the two, and he didn't say much. Editor's note: This endorsement editorial was updated on . 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. A series of Willie James Hemphill mugshots ranging from 2000 through 2016. 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. The judge denied Flowers' request to attend his mother funeral here on July 21. In loving memory of Willie Mae Hemphill who passed away February 25, 2012. Flowers was convicted and sentenced to death in the first three trials, but each time, the verdict was overturned on appeal for prosecutorial misconduct in the first and second trials, and for racially discriminatory jury selection in the third. 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. That might not be so if the whole world wasnt watching, but it is. The podcast, which uncovered evidence used by Flowers to get his conviction overturned, spoke with witness Clemmie Fleming. A wealthy lawyer who killed his wife and son at close range has been sentenced in one of the most troubling cases the judge said he had seen. Who was he? The crime itself was extraordinary, but the case drew In The Darks attention because a local prosecutor had tried Flowers six times for the murders. Hallmon has since admitted he lied. … 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. Each victim of the July 16, 1996 murders was murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. The truths going to come out.. The first of these events took place last month when the US Supreme Court tossed out Flowers conviction. Willie James Hemphill is confronted by reporters at an Indianapolis courthouse in June 2019. The second season of the In the Dark podcast is about the case of Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same crime. His mothers mutt, Patches, was barking in the crawl space, causing him to find a gunbeneath the house she was renting. Green is a reporter in Toronto. with Reverend Shane Russell officiating, assisted by Max Bennett. If Gamble and McKenzie were in Mississippi the day of the Winona murders its very possible that Presley was with them. 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. Selected filmography. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. And maybe his girlfriend, Katherine Snow, told the authorities that she saw Curtis leaning up against Doyle Simpsons car because thats what investigators wanted to hear. Are you a sl*t? After a multistate manhunt, Presley and Gamble were arrested in Norfolk, Virginia. Case Number : 20-11001. You may also light a candle in honor of Willie James . "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. The podcasts reporters spent months methodically proving that prosecutors systematically denied black people a seat in the jury box, and how a man who is likely innocent has been repeatedly sentenced to death. But his demeanor when approached by In the Dark investigative reporters was consistent with innocence. 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. Jessie Mae Hemphill; Jimmie Gordon; Jimmy "Duck" Holmes; Jimmy Burns; Jimmy Dawkins; Jimmy Holmes; Jimmy Johnson; . Willie James Hemphill Birth 27 May 1919 Death 14 Jul 2000 (aged 81) Burial. They wanted to ask him about his alibi for the day of the Tardy Furniture murders, an alibi that hadn't checked out. Willie James Hemphill, 38. 2. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. Judge Joseph Loper asked Evans if the state had any exculpatory evidence.. When Jeffrey Armstrong heard his dog barking, he went outside tosee the reason for the commotion. The Tardy murders took place during a 24-day gap when the group carried out no robberies in Alabama. Winona, Mississippi lies three hours west of Birmingham on Highway 82. His alibi is weak, according to In The Dark. In the sixth, he was again convicted and sentenced to death, and his latest appeal was ongoing when the podcast started. It was still in the morning time.". Updated: June 22, 2016 . When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case . Not the right Willie? The suspicion that the crimes could be connected was a matter of public record at the time. A Hearing. Curtis Flowers is on Mississippis death row, convicted of the murders after six trials, but his lawyers, APM Reports In the Dark podcast, the Starz TV program The Wrong Man and others have raised questions about his guilt. He never responded. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008); The Social Network (2010) When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case. But there was a three-week gap in the Alabama crime spree right at the time of the Tardy murders. They have also lived in Franklin, NC and North Fort Myers, FL. Sure, he had worked at Tardys in the past. Like LaSamuel Gamble, Hemphill wore Fila shoes and had a criminal record. If Flowers did what he is accused of doing, he deserves his punishment, Armstrong said. In 1880 James, now 16, has an additional. Case Details Parties Documents Dockets . Early voting has begun. January 5, 1960 - August 13, 2009. Miller would not comment. 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. Support investigative journalism with a donation to In the Dark. Reporters spent months combing through police and court records in Mississippi, Tennessee and Indiana to compile his extensive, and at times violent, criminal history. The crime had a random and senseless quality to it. Willie James Hemphill Phone Numbers (662) ***-4391 He said he wondered what happened with the gun. In October 2015, almost 20 years after the murders at Tardy Furniture, one of Curtis Flowers' lawyers was paging through his case file, when she saw a familiar face. James Mather at IMDb; This page was last . 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. But how could a single person (especially a man like Curtis Flowers) dispatch four victims with a bullet to the back of the head? But there was no mention of the Alabama crimes and suspects in the investigative files the prosecution had turned over to Flowers' defense attorneys. This case was filed in U.S. Courts Of Appeals, U.S. Court Of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.
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