The Wrongful Conviction of Rocky Myers

Innocent and Intellectually Disabled man faces Execution in Alabama

53-year-old Myers a black man with an intellectual disability was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1993 for a crime he did not commit. Myers was burdened with an incompetent lawyer who abandoned his case and the testimonies used to arrest him has since been recanted with 0 forensic evidence tying him to the scene of the crime. The overwhelmingly white and biased jury in Alabama found him guilty and suggested life without parole but the judge presiding over the case overrode the jury and ordered his execution instead. The racial bias, poor representation, and judicial override led to the possible wrongful conviction of an intellectually disabled black man. Since then Alabama ended the practice of judicial override in 2017 but Myers is one of 32 people currently on Alabama’s death row. As of now, Myers has a pending appeal challenging his sentence in light of Alabama’s abolition of judicial override. His only other legal option is clemency, which only Kay Ivey, the governor of Alabama can provide.