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Timothy McKinney is an innocent man on death row. He was sentenced to death at the age of 25 by the state of Tennessee for a murder he did not commit. His conviction was based on circumstantial evidence, almost exclusively unreliable eyewitness testimony. Tim’s case is an example of one man’s struggle for justice, but also a glaring example of social injustice. Tim’s fight is not only for his own freedom, but for the freedom of all those wrongly accused.

Please help my innocent friend on Tennessee death row and visit:
www.myspace.com/timothymckinney and www.timmckinney.org and please sign his petition on:
www.petitiononline.com/j4mckinn/petition.html


Timothy McKinney was sentenced to death on July 16th, 1999, three days after his 25th birthday, for the murder of the off-duty police officer Williams who was fatally wounded in a shooting on December 26th, 1997 in front of Crumpy’s Comedy Club in Memphis, Tennessee, where hundreds of mainly young adults attended a Christmas Party. Timothy was one of those who entered the club, hours before the shooting happened.


At some time that night, Timothy left the club and didn’t find his car where he parked it. He jumped at conclusions it had been stolen. Officer Williams noticed Timothy who was visibly outraged. After the two men exchanged some heated words, a companion of Tim found his car which got parked at some other place of the parking lot by someone who borrowed the car. Timothy was asked to leave and drove away.


Later, Timothy returned and tried to reenter the club but was denied, so he decided to wait outside the parking lot for his friends to leave the club. Officer Williams got concerned about Timothy’s continued presence and called MPD dispatch for assistance regarding a drunken black male. When four squad cars arrived minutes later, Timothy already left.


Timothy showed up again. By this time, another police officer, Officer Marshall, had been present who decided to question Timothy and take his driver’s license to get his name and address. Officer Williams was the one who wrote down Timothy’s name and address on a piece of paper which was later found in his pocket. After Timothy got his driver’s license back he left the scene and went to his then-girlfriend’s house.


Later, at around 2:30 a.m. Officer Williams gets fatally wounded by a masked person with dark clothes (Timothy wore a golden vest and a colored sweater) in front of the club, visible by dozens of leaving party guests. Officer Lee, who was present when the crime happened and saw the masked murderer and the murderer’s car he fired at when the actual suspect escaped, will later identify Timothy as the shooter, after changing important details of his story several times.


On December 27th, 1997, Timothy gets arrested. On his 25th birthday, July 13th 1999, he went on trial for his life. Timothy’s court-appointed attorney did a very poor representation. He did not call any witnesses that were able to speak on Timothy’s behalf nor did he investigate the case at all. He did not interview any possible witnesses. Timothy’s conviction was based on false witness testimonies and the fact that Timothy was on parole for a 1993 robbery where he drove the getaway car (he served 23 months for this crime).


Timothy’s pro bono lawyers found out that Officer Lee, who was present when the crime happened and saw the murderer, changed his story of events at least three times. In his last statement, Officer Lee said the shooter wore the same clothes like Timothy wore that night after he gave two statements where he told the police that the shooter wore dark clothes. In his last statement, Officer Lee also stated that he saw the shooter eye to eye – he did not mention this in his two statements before. Officer Lee also said that Timothy was the only party guest that night that caused problems. After interviewing over one hundred of people who attended the Christmas party, Timothy’s defense found out that the off-duty officers had a couple of altercations with different party guests – not only Timothy.


Another eyewitness of the shooting described the shooter the same way Officer Lee described the shooter in his very first statement (and so did other eyewitnesses as well). This eyewitness changed her story when she testified during the trial. She told the court that the shooter wore the golden vest Timothy was wearing that night. Under cross-examination she admitted that the prosecution showed the golden vest to her before she testified.


The only physical evidence the prosecution was able to produce were gunshot residue on Timothy’s golden vest. The testimony of the TBI forensic scientist describing microscopic particles “consistent with gunshot residue” but not conclusively gunshot residue on Timothy’s vest should never have been allowed to be presented in front of Timothy’s jury. Of greater significance here than the presence of microscopic particles “consistent with” gunshot residue were the lack of such particles on Timothy’s pants, and the decision not to test Timothy’s sweater, shirt(s), or his car for gunshot residue. No blow back of blood spray, typical of close gunshot wounds, was found on any of Timothy’s clothing. No possible murder weapon was found nor were any bullet holes on Timothy's vehicle (Officer Marshall shot in direction of the suspect's car when the suspect escaped), which was sold by the police three months after the shooting and long before the trial even started. The inside of Timothy's car was not even tested for any possible evidences which could prove his innocence (like non existing gunshot residue on the seats or the floor of the car).


Today, Timothy’s defense was able to produce more than 50 witnesses that are able to speak on Timothy’s behalf. With the help of the withheld police records his lawyers were also able to reconstruct the events of the night of the shooting and found out that it was almost impossible for Timothy to be at the crime scene at the time of the shooting. Still, Timothy has to fight to get a new trial although it is more than clear that Timothy is on death row right now as a result of police misconduct and sloppy handling of the case through Timothy’s former court-appointed attorney.


Right now, Timothy and his lawyers are awaiting an answer of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee.