State of Alabama v. Donnis Musgrove A Lethal Combination of Bad Lawyering and Prosecutorial Misconduct?

In 1988, Donnis Musgrove was sentenced to die for a murder he steadfastly denied committing. Seven years later, a new legal team took over. They discovered that Musgrove’s trial attorney had made a series of critical errors, beginning with his request to consolidate Musgrove’s case.

The new lawyers also hired private detectives. What they found was shocking. Not only did Musgrove’s alibi stand up under scrutiny, but there was new evidence that the conviction was not just the result of a mistake—it was the result of a deliberate plan by a detective to frame Musgrove and a trial where the prosecutor bent the rules.

At a hearing in 2006, the defense presented a long list of errors by the original trial lawyer. The defense also presented new evidence that:

• The Detective and The Prosecutor Suborned Perjury
• The Prosecutor Withheld Key Documents
• The Prosecution Withheld Other Brady Evidence and Coached the Eyewitness
• The Detective Coached and Paid A Grand Jury Witness
• A Key Shell Casing Was Switched
• The Eyewitness Account Was Impossible

But the judge refused to grant Musgrove a new trial and the state appellate courts declined to change that decision. In November 2014, Musgrove filed a federal habeas petition, which is currently pending.

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