To detectives, the three witness accounts from Madden, Raybon, and Ewing, as well as Myers lying and fumbling with his alibi was enough to take the case to court. Federal habeas corpus review is a critical stage in a death-penalty case, because it allows death row prisoners to bring federal constitutional claims that were heard in state court but were not successful, said Anna Arceneaux, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Capital Punishment Project. Robin "Rocky" Myers is a 53-year-old intellectually disabled black man who was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in . var inline_cta_2_button_text_305203 = ''; Butchs statement described Cool Breeze as showing up with the VCR, sweating and shaking, acting paranoid as hell.11 if( inline_cta_button_text_305203 !='' ){ She survives, and unfortunately, so does he. But they can also be overly sensitive, conservative, stubborn, emotional. var cta_1_check_305203 = false; } You can read our Privacy Policy here. Ballentine was arrested for non-capital murder, but the case against him quickly became an uphill climb as they gathered evidence. The prosecutions case was simple: Myers had gone to Madden seeking crack on credit, and when Madden refused, Myers clouded judgement from addiction led him to break into his neighbors home and kill her. His children remember him as a loving father who, despite his struggles with drug abuse, never left their lives or abused them. Equal Justice Initiative, however, also represented the prisoner who read the letter to Myers and reached out for help. If I could read the law in the books and learn and study, I would. When Hale told him that he was facing the electric chair, he started crying and asked to speak with his mother.21, Keeton, Rockys current attorney, says that his inability to provide a clear time line during the interrogation has everything to do with his intellectual disability, which shes observed in more than a decade of working with him on his case. When Laurie was less than a year old, her ten-year-old brother Michael Myers suffered a psychotic break . I mean, we had us, said Deon Myers, his second-youngest son. if( inline_cta_font_color_305203 !='' ){ var is_user_logged_in = getCookie('SESSname'); For five years, beginning in 1998, Earle J. Schwarz would serve as Myers lawyer to build his post-conviction appeal, but in 2003, he received word that Myers appeal had been declined by the state. With a vote of 9-to-3, an overwhelmingly white jury in Decatur, Ala., recommended that Robin be sentenced to Life Without the Possibility of Parole. The Hairy Bikers' Si King has revealed his longtime pal Dave Myers is still 'in the trenches' of his cancer treatment, months after he revealed he was undergoing chemotherapy. Dutton would survive and go on to tell the story. We had affidavits that showed [habeas corpus] language is above college level in terms of reading and understanding, and that Rocky reads at approximately a third- or fourth-grade level, so that will never make sense to me.49, A lot of people think that people on death row know the law, they know this or that, but I dont, said Rocky. Today, 89-year-old Booker T. Hillery is still inmate #A32262. inline_cta_text_305203 = '

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'; TV is down real low, you could kinda hear a pin drop. Days later, Ray was executed after the US Supreme Court denied his request to have an imam present in the lethal-injection chamber.56, When Im praying, I tell the Lord Im terrified, Rocky said. However, it wasn't until he was a little more than two years old that the first signs of . American actor whose film work includes 2006's Invincible, 2014's Survivor and 2016's You May Now Kill the Bride. placementName: "thenation_article_indent", 198.12.253.60 You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. From the bench, he said the jury had been too emotional in choosing not to recommend the death penalty on its own and described Rocky as a threat to society.36, I never thought for a moment that he did it, said Puckett, her voice cracking. jQuery("#inline_cta_btn_305203 a").attr("href",inline_cta_url_305203); I should have returned the file to the Equal Justice Initiative at that time; I did not; thats on me, he wrote. And because of egregious conduct by an attorney working on his case, Rocky lost his chance for a post-conviction appealwhich meant that he was unable to present new evidence in federal court, including testimony revealing that police interfered with a key witness.7 So when Hale said that Marzell had made a statement saying that hed seen Rocky give a VCR to Butch the night Ludie Mae was killed, Rocky hung his head. magazine_button_url_305203 = 'https://www.thenation.com/email-signup-module-donate/'; Due to shortages in the supply of lethal injection substances, in 2018 Rocky Myers and others were asked to choose if they wanted to die via the use of new drugs to be used in the lethal injection protocol or gas asphyxiation. We never had to beg for anything to eat. if( is_user_logged_in != null ){ inline_cta_2_text_305203 = '

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'; 24 talking about this. Rocky Myers (born August 24, 1982 in Dover, Delaware) is an American actor and model. The Oklahoma Way of Death Only NCAA Divisin III football player to win the Gagliardi Trophy as a Defensive Player (Free Safety) as of 2011. The next phone call that would be made wasnt to the mans family, however. jQuery("#inline_cta_1_module_305203").addClass("tn-inline-cta-module"); var inline_cta_bg_color_305203 = ''; $263 million). Violet Myers is still alive and well, so the news that she died was a lie. And I think thats it.8, Rocky wasnt the first suspect to come under the spotlight during the investigation. In the original Halloween, John Carpenter envisioned The Shape (as Michael was known in the script and credits) as a personification of evil, a view conveyed overtly by Dr. Loomis; this monster killed without rhyme or reason, choosing prey and stalking until it was dead. targeting:{ This, and the trial was held in front of a grand jury, which typically favors the prosecutor. The state of Alabama argued that Schwarzs failings were irrelevant, contending that the burden had been on Rocky to stay on top of his case. var cta_2_check_305203 = false; The stab wound to her chest had pierced her heart, and not long after arrival, she was pronounced dead.5 Table of Contents. [He] was just a jabbering and his voice was a quivering, Dutton said later in a statement. And Rocky surely knew that Ludie Mae lived aloneyet on the night of the murder, Dutton said shed heard her cousin tell her attacker that her husband was in the other room.30, Puckett, the juror, noticed these holes in the prosecutors case. if( is_user_logged_in != null ){ It was the states place to prove that Rocky Myers was in the home and committed that crime. Copyright (c) 2023 The Nation Company LLC, By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and, agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support. An Alabama-based legal advocacy organization calculated that 20 percent of inmates on death row in Alabama had their sentences imposed through judicial override. magazine_button_bg_color_305203 = '#dd3333'; He was arrested on the grounds of failing a drug test, which violated his parole. Would you want someone like that on a jury?37, Since 1976, when the US Supreme Court ruled in Gregg v. Georgia that capital punishment was constitutional, only three states have ever allowed the practice of judicial override in death-penalty cases: Florida, Delaware, and Alabama. The 64-year-old is best known as one half of the celebrity cooking duo the Hairy Bikers, alongside . Below we countdown to . In the February 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, members of Myers' legal team tell the story of how racial bias, poor representation, and judicial override led to the possible wrongful conviction of an intellectually disabled man. Send birthday cards: Although the practice is now no longer permitted in Alabama, the law passed by the Legislature wasnt retroactivewhich means that anyone put on death row by judicial override stayed there despite the Legislatures tacit acknowledgement that the practice was unjust.41, After his conviction Rocky was transferred to Holman Correctional Facility, where Alabama carries out its death sentences. At the end of the 2018 Halloween film, Laurie and the Strode women lock Michael in the basement of their burning house, but the post-credits scene shows him getting out alive. Rocky said he did.19, Marzell was an associate of Butchs who, in his own words, sold drugs, watched houses, and did basically anything he needed at the time. He and Rocky knew each other well from around the neighborhood. That litigation was dropped last year after the state agreed to offer asphyxiation by nitrogen gas as an execution option. Roadrunner claimed hed implicated Cool Breeze because he was angry over an argument theyd had the night of the murder, and Butch said hed backed up Roadrunners statement because I just figured thats what everybody wanted to hear. They said the story theyd originally told was still mostly true: A man had come to the shot house asking for crack on credit the night of Ludie Maes murder, returning later with a VCR to trade.14, But there was one major change. inline_cta_2_font_color_305203 = '#ffffff'; Dutton could hear that hed come inside the house. Asking him a month-plus out, What were you doing on October 4?theres no way he can provide a good memory. He, however, had seen someone else with the VCR. [They] said, yes, we showed that Schwarzs failures were a problem, but that Rocky even with his intellectual disability had to show some level of diligence on his part, said Keeton. He was a two-time All-America selection at defensive back and, as a senior, was . As an undergraduate, Rocky attended Wesley College (Dover, DE), where he maintained a 4.0 GPA in Biology while also playing intercollegiate football. Rocky Myers was born and raised in Bowers Beach, Delaware. In exchange for his eyewitness testimony, Boyd would take the stolen car Ewing had been driving and leave it on the side of the road. Halloween: Resurrection: Michael Myers is aliveWhat's happening in this Halloween: Resurrection movie clip?Freddie (Busta Rhymes) and Sara (Bianca Kajlich) t. In the late hours of October 4, 1991, Mamie Dutton watched through a bedroom window as her cousin, Ludie Mae Tucker, spoke to a stranger on the porch. In 2016, the US Supreme Court ruled that Floridas judicial-override statute was unconstitutional. Speaking on . Her fans didn't believe the fake news anyway. Rocky Myers was born on August 24, 1982 in Dover, DE. Rocky Myers is a famous Movie Actor. I just dont have any memory of him being any type of violent person.17, Rocky and his family eventually settled into a home across the street from Ludie Mae. Rocky holds a dying Apollo Creed. inline_cta_text_305203 = '

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'; I kept waiting for that word that was going to tell me what happened and there was never one. American actor whose film work includes 2006's Invincible, 2014's Survivor and 2016's You May Now Kill the Bride. Myers posted two videos on her Tiktok today. Three-quarters of such cases involved a white victim, though only 35 percent of homicide victims in the state are white.39. 1. Halloween H20 could have had the best ending for Laurie and Michael, as . He is the son of educators and the youngest of four brothers. jQuery("#magazine_button_305203 a input").css("background",magazine_button_bg_color_305203); When Rocky decides to drop the album, which he estimates is about 90 percent complete when we speak, it could usher in a radical new phase in his life: Rocky the romantic. Days after the Crimson Tide star was accused of bringing a gun to the scene of a murder, he spread his arms for a mock pat-down during pre-game introductions. Does Rocky have brain damage? Once the appeal of a death-row inmates initial conviction is denied, there is a lengthy, byzantine post-conviction process that can last for decades. Birthplace: Bowers Beach, Delaware, USA. Police arrived within minutes, and though the two were hysterical, Tucker was coherent enough to describe her attacker as a stocky black man wearing a light-colored shirt with blood splatters. Not just alive but living life to the fullest. I thought I was going to go back to New Jersey.35, A few months later, Puckett was at her home outside of Decatur when she got a call from one of the other jurors. The attacker searched the house, potentially looking for the husband Tucker had mentioned, but found Dutton instead. Rocky Myers, 63. var is_user_logged_in = getCookie('SESSname'); We were dealing with ourselves trying to come up with a way to save his life, Puckett said. Then the day after the murder, a local man handed over to the Decatur police department a VCR matching the description of the one stolen from Ludie Maes house. He was previously a star college football player, becoming a two-time All-American defensive back. The habeas corpus process offers inmates the chance to present new evidence in their cases and dispute the underlying rationale that led to their conviction. I mean literally, I didnt know what to do. When Myers took the stand, his story remained the same: The afternoon before the murder, Myers had purchased crack from Madden. Years later, Mamie Dutton, her cousin, told a lawyer working on Rockys appeal that she and Ludie Mae had seen Rocky across the street earlier that day, and Ludie Mae had mentioned that she knew him from the times hed knocked on her door to ask for ice. Does Rocky Myers Dead or Alive? Katie Rose Quandt, More than two years later, a man named Robin Rocky Myers was convicted of Ludie Mae Tuckers murder. I told him that he was in luck because I would be doing the begging and it didn't bother me. Myers grew up in New Jersey as one of ten kids. Shed had her first child at the age of 14. It was in prison that they would interrogate and question Myers about his involvement in the murder of Ludie Mae Tucker. No evidence linked him to the scene of the murder of which he was convicted, except for a video-recorder stolen from the victim, which he maintains he had found abandoned in the street.