1. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Sound for the film Belfast. He freely admitted that he had been a suspect and even says that, although innocent, he would have made a more convincing suspect than Curtis. Their names are Michael Lee Boies , Crystal Davis , and six others. . Following a masterful turn as Flowers defense lawyer, the podcast also wanted to play the part of the prosecution. Photos. State investigator Jack Matthews, one of those who had read Hemphill his rights, said hed only talked to Hemphill for a short time before realizing he didnt know anything. Menu. Share to Pinterest. When we finally found Hemphill, living in Indianapolis, he had some very surprising things to say about the case . The district attorneys office isnt commenting. Explosive end to case thats rocked America. A series of Willie James Hemphill mugshots ranging from 2000 through 2016. It wasn't that day." It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Willie James Hemphill (Rock Hill, South Carolina), who passed away on November 9, 2017, leaving to mourn family and friends. Visitation will be observed from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service. Follow him onFacebookandTwitter. 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. "They were investigating that intently back then. And so, in the corridors of the courthouse last week, a female journalist with In The Dark confronted Hemphill about his airtight alibi. 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. But instead of stopping there, its reporters started snitching to the same system whose injustice they had just unmasked. 23 Matches for Willie Hemphill . Belfast (2021; co-nominated with Denise Yarde, Simon Chase and Niv Adiri) References External links. Soon that would change. 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. The Tardy murders took place during a 24-day gap when the group carried out no robberies in Alabama. Find Willie Hemphill's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading online directory for contact information. Presley and Gamble were extradited to Alabama, and again Gamble was questioned, almost in passing, about Mississippi. 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's ex-girlfriend Monkra Moore told In the Dark that she and Hemphill lived together on the east side of Winona in 1996 and that he was at home around 7 a.m. on the morning of the murders when she was leaving for work. WINONA Renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said evidence he reviewed of the 1996 Tardy Furniture slayings suggests more than one personcarried out the quadruple murder. Yet theyre willing to hand him over to the prosecution, to possibly watch him die. He told APM Reports that he was arrested and questioned in the . Willie James Hemphill, 38. The presence of live ammunition on the floor suggested that one of the killers was using a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. Find Willie Hemphill's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading people search directory for contact information and public records. We encourage you to research and . View Willie Smith results in Kingwood, TX including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. The case status is Pending - Other Pending. F.T. Willie James Hemphill has done many terrible things. The podcast, which uncovered evidence used by Flowers to get his conviction overturned, spoke with witness Clemmie Fleming. Maybe Doyle did the deed and reported his gun stolen to throw everyone off the scent. Share to Reddit. Hemphill was born on September 10, 1971. John Johnson, the DAs investigator, told the jury, I think they talked to him for five minutes. The Dallas Morning News Homepage. 5 Visits. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family. Since police, sheriff's deputies, jailers and highway patrol investigators work for the state, if they turn up anything that casts doubt on the defendant's guilt, the prosecutor must hand it over to the defense. Goldberg couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth. During the sixth Flowers trial, Matthews, who worked with Miller at the Mississippi Highway Patrol, said the only suspect in the case aside from Flowers was Doyle Simpson, whose gun the prosecution argued Flowers stole and used as the murder weapon. Search by Name. Photos. SEND FLOWERS. Mr. Willie James Hemphill, of 1119-101 Kevin Lane, died Thursday, November 9, 2017. He said he would have sent a written report back to Mississippi, so authorities there could check out the stories. "I don't understand how she said that.". This score is (-15%) Above the National Average View Actual Score View Reputation Details . But maybe she didnt see anyone at all. Relatives were alarmed to see a swarm of police cars descending on their homes in search of Willie James. He told APM Reports that he was arrested and questioned in the early days of the investigation. Following that arrest, Hemphill committed crimes nearly continuously for the next three decades. But that doesnt make Doyle a cold killer. Willie James Hemphill didn't come up until the sixth Flowers trial, and law enforcement officers said he was eliminated as a suspect in about five minutes. What are we supposed to think? Who was he? 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. When the podcasts reporter Parker Yesko confronted Hemphill about whether he committed the murders, he denied it, and the show included audio of the hideous, misogynistic things he said in response. Me and her was leaving," he said, forfeiting his Memphis alibi altogether and placing himself a short walk from Tardy Furniture. What an Alabama crime spree might reveal about the Curtis Flowers investigation. Look, Ive got something yall need to get, he said he told them. (Although that figure is, at best, an educated guess.). His alibi is weak, according to In The Dark. Later, he said, one of the officers, Vince Small, came by, and he handed the officer the gun. "They wanted to put all these robberies onto Marcus and LaSamuel.". Could those responsible for Tardy Furniture murders have escaped a different way? The officer who was with Small when they pulled over Armstrong for speeding told APM Reports that Armstrong had indeed given them a handgun, which was turned over to the district attorneys office. Reporters also poked holes in Hemphill . And why did Doyles brother, Emmett, run from law enforcement when they came to question him on the morning of the crime? Share to Twitter. What follows are selected incidents from his past. Although authorities quicklysettled on Flowers as their main suspect, he wasnt arrested until seven months later. Simplistic journalism ethics call for reporters to follow the facts wherever they might lead. He didn't work on July 4, a holiday, and didn't show up for work on July 5, 6 or 8. Two weeks later, a picture of Marcus Presley, the shooter in the Birmingham murders, was included in a photo array shown to Porky Collins, a witness in the Winona, Mississippi case. 0 Reputation Score Range. Fourteen lawyers. Before he left on July 3, he said she gave him $30. By licks he meant places to rob.. Menu. It might mean letting someone get away with an abominable crime. Just after the murders, police arrested and jailed him as a suspect, but then let him go. Username. Episode 10 of the In the DarkPodcast was largely dedicated to the strange case ofWillie James Hemphill, a local bad boy with a violent streak who was continually getting cross-ways with the law. 2) and Curtis Flowers (No. Their size was a.380. Eight persons linked to this address. Last month, the Supreme Court overturned Flowers latest conviction, citing In The Darks reporting. Small is now claiming that I never gave (the gun) to him, Armstrong said. 0 Reputation Score Range. AVERAGE AGE. While he was working July 3, he loaded golf cart batteries into the back of a truck. But there was a three-week gap in the Alabama crime spree right at the time of the Tardy murders. Nothing in the investigative file for the case explains why officers let him go. July 2, 2019 | by Parker Yesko and Dave Mann. District Attorney Doug Evans insisted he'd given the defense access to all records of the investigation. Contacts (5) Locations (10) Family (3) Social (2) Willie James Hemphill Willie Hemphill (1919 - 2000) Jump to: Bio graphy Family Photos Comments Obit uary. Willie James Hemphill; Willie James Hemphill, Age 44. aka Willie Jr Hemphill. While Presley drove the action, Gamble kept his gun trained on the scene in case anyone tried to flee. . Police received a call about the murders at 10:21 a.m. He allegedly stabbed a woman with a screwdriver, among other violent crimes. But he believed Gamble's denial. They said they didnt have a case against me.. In The Dark proved that Curtis Flowers was railroaded by an unjust system. Presley and Gamble made three runs to Boston during the summer of 1996: once after their June crime spree, once after the pawn shop murders and once immediately after the furniture store murders in Winona. Are you a wh*re?, Reporter: Did you commit the murders on Front Street? It hurts my feelings.. (1870), A.M. (1872), and LL.D. 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. Current Address: EHZR Hannah Dr, Rock Hill, SC. 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. WrongManleans tentatively fingers Doyle Simpson as the prime suspect. January 5, 1960 - August 13, 2009. 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. But In The Dark was apparently unsatisfied with exonerating the innocent: It needed the narrative closure of guilt, and found its key to that in Hemphill. Reporters from In the Dark tried to contact Hemphill online to present him with these findings. The judge denied Flowers' request to attend his mother funeral here on July 21. In The Darks reporting on the case documented the inequities and outright barbarism of Mississippis criminal justice system. He said he told investigators he was shopping with a woman in Memphis. More importantly, Woods said she was certain that she didn't make the trip with Hemphill that day. "I can't recall seeing him that day," Woods said. Officers gave him a gunshot residue test, finding oneparticle of residue. <a . So where was Hemphill during the day? That brings us to a theory that has been explored extensively by some of the folks currently representing Mr. So, if Curtis Flowers isnt guilty, who is? In The Dark also found out that prosecutions star witness, Odell Hallmon, secretly received special treatment prosecutors dropped charges in seven felony cases against him in exchange for his false testimony that Flowers made a jailhouse confession. Evans has spoken to the Greenwood Commonwealth, most recently about APM Reports analysis of his record of striking potential black jurors vs. white juries 4 1/2 times more often. Now the spotlight is on three other deaths that are linked to the case. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Willie James Hemphill. I aint saying nothing bad. And, unlike Curtis, Doyle had more than a passing acquaintance with organized crime (a mobster once left him for dead in a field outside of New Orleans). Other facts may help explain why Hemphill initially was a suspect: The shoes he told In the Dark that he was wearing when he was questioned by investigators on July 21, 1996 Fila Grant Hill high-tops are the same type of sneaker that had left bloody footprints at the scene of the murders five days earlier. One, Rigby,was killed with two shots to the head. In the 1980s and '90s, Hemphill spent time in Memphis. Lab officials, however, say the gun never arrived and was never tested. It wasnt until 2016 that defense lawyers took a closer look at Armstrongs statement that he found a .380 handgun. By his own account, someone told investigators that they'd seen him on Front Street that morning, though Hemphill has said repeatedly that he wasn't there. 2. On November 16, 2015, Marcus Presley signed an affidavit claiming that Lasamuel Gamble and Steven McKenzie (the driver of the getaway car) had been in Mississippi the day of the Winona murders and had returned with several hundred dollars in their pockets after claiming to have hit a lick (committed a crime). But after several hours of interviews conducted over two days, Hemphill finally disclosed his alibi: He said he was at a mall in Memphis at the time of the murders, with a Winona woman named Twanda Woods. Past Addresses: Shelby NC, Shelby NC +7 more. Each victim of the July 16, 1996 murders was murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. While talking to them, he said he told them about his discovery. "[I]t's almost like a hair trigger that would cause a reversal if you've got false testimony that is significant.". The district's Republicans should nominate James Hemphill as their candidate for Congress in the May 3 primary. That discovery will very likely win Curtis a new trial, but it doesnt necessarily finger the new guy as the killer. Willie James Hemphill was born on May 27, 1919. Add a Memory. ", If Evans and his prosecution witnesses knowingly or unknowingly withheld evidence from the defense of other suspects in the Winona killings, they could be in violation of the Brady rule, named after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that says a criminal defendant must be given evidence that could point toward his innocence. Law enforcement had interviewed a different suspect with a violent criminal history, Willie James Hemphill a fact which was not disclosed to the defense. I dont think they learned anything.. Hemphill said he was wearing his Filas when in walked into the Sheriffs Department. While that case was delayed for more than two years, Hallmon murdered three people, including his ex-girlfriend, Marquita Hill, and her mother. Whoever did this crime (the Tardy murders) was a good shot.. Sympathy Ideas. Sign the Guest Book . Obituaries Section. 0 Add Rating Anonymously. APM Reports recently interviewed a man named Willie James Hemphill, who said he was a suspect early in the investigation. After examining the autopsy reportsand crime scene photographs, Baden said the evidence suggests one person maintained control while another person carried out the execution-style killings. After the second stick up, the two men argued about whether they should have killed the witness. Willie James Hemphill Phone Numbers (662) ***-4391 Who was he? Montgomery County Sheriff Bill Thornburg searched Moores home and found a size 10.5 Fila Grant Hill shoebox in a dresser at her house. ", "I was nowhere near the scene," he said. Armstrong questions whether Flowers could have carried out the killings of four people execution-style. Doug Evans, the district attorney who prosecuted Flowers in all six trials, has declined to be interviewedby APM Reports and has not returned calls from the Clarion Ledger. He said that side door leads to a ditch that would have provided a better escape route than simply walking back through town as authorities claimed Flowers had. One of them wore Grant Hill Fila sneakers. And that omission, a law professor and former prosecutor told the team, could mean a seventh new trial for Flowers, condemined to death for the murders of four people at Tardy Furniture Store. Early voting has begun. In Flowers' third trial, Snow testified that the height of the man she saw was between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-5. The first of these events took place last month when the US Supreme Court tossed out Flowers conviction. 1 hr 4 min . Jessie Mae Hemphill [1]1923-2006 Blues musician, singer, songwriter, guitarist, percussionist Blues musician and vocalist Jessie Mae Hemphill [2] was a paradox. 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. Presley and Gamble did four of the June heists together and one crime was perpetrated by Presley alone. - Law enforcement had interviewed a different suspect with a violent criminal history, Willie James Hemphill - a fact which was not disclosed to the defense. In 1880 James, now 16, has an additional. FUNERAL HOMES. Search by Name Search . He said he began working at Tardy Furniture on June 29, 1996. The criminals used a .380-caliber handgun that sometimes jammed. That night, according to Moore, Hemphill was home with an ounce of marijuana, some of which they smoked together. If youve listened toIn the Darkor watchedWrong Manon the Starz channel, you either came away convinced that Curtis Flowers didnt kill four people in cold blood back in 1996 or you werent paying attention. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 7-to-1 that prosecutors unconstitutionally eliminated black jurors during the trial proceedings for Timothy Tyrone Foster in 1987. analysis of his record of striking potential black jurors, Curtis Flowers' prosecution witness says testimony was all 'make believe', Recanted testimony, subjective science helps put Curtis Flowers on death row, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. By the time Presley and Gamble were arrested, Doug Evans wasnt interested in alternative scenarios; he knew Curtis was the killer. Mark Weingarten is an American production sound mixer.He has been nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Best Sound Mixing, winning in 2017 for Dunkirk.He has worked on more than 120 films since 1987. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. 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. Willie James Hemphill, Willie J Hemphill, Williae Hemphill. 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. He said he wondered what happened with the gun. Following his release from prison in 2013,Hallmon tried to run over a Carroll County sheriff's deputy while escaping a drug bust. He said that while in jail he talked to Evans about the Flowers case, and he saw a chance to gain his freedom. Their pattern was to spend a week or so lying low before going on another rampage. He's shown a fearlessness about committing brazen attacks and thefts in daylight with high risks and low payoff, in places close to where he's lived and where people are more likely to recognize him. Authorities put together alineup later that day of black-and-white photos, and she identified Flowers from the lineup as the man she briefly saw that morning when she came outside to move her car. The accused has had his conviction overturned for the sixth time, the woman who put him at the scene of the murders has backflipped on her story and another man has been forced to deny it was him all along. Saums pointed out that Simpson who has since died lied to police about how he had gotten the gun. Wiilie Hemphill passed away in Bryan, Texas. 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. State investigator Matthews told the jury he didnt check Hemphills alibi, ruling him out by conversation alone. Usually if somebody starts shooting, he said, others will run.. A .380-caliber is hard to control. As the investigators interviewed for theWrong Man episodes on Flowers point out, the family members of the victims should have been considered suspects until evidence suggested otherwise. Reporter: Mr Hemphill. Find records of Willie Hemphill . But we found a document showing that another man, Willie James Hemphill, had also been questioned just days after the murders. Willie James Hemphill was born on June 2, 1941. So, if Curtis didnt do this terrible deed, who did? Sarah Warnock and Jerry Mitchell/Clarion Ledger, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. However, In the Dark's reporting has uncovered no clear evidence linking him to the Tardy murders. There are 60+ professionals named "Willie Hemphill", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM. And he's shown a quick and violent temper, particularly with women who don't comply with his demands. Username. Illuminating Journalism from American Public Media. Each victim had been murdered execution styleone or two bullets to the back of the head. I was scared I was going to go to jail.. Not the right Willie? He took the gun and placed it into a nearby shed. Hemphill was held in jail for 11 days, according to county records, though it's not clear why he was held. Before he disappeared into a men's bathroom, he once again dodged the question of where he was on the day of the murders and insulted two female reporters with vulgarities. Quantico . 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. Willie Hemphill. The killer or killers could have used the key to enter the side door, perhaps hiding before the store opened. . Because Mr. Evans didnt tell them about the Alabama connection. So, maybe Curtis didnt steal the gun after all. He spent 11 days in jail before authorities released him. And the investigative file not shared with the defense showed investigators had considered Marcus Presley, the gunman in the murders and a string of similar crimes that same summer in neighboring Alabama. 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. I know he didnt do it, Archie Flowers said. Like LaSamuel Gamble, Hemphill wore Fila shoes and had a criminal record. APM Reports, the investigative and documentary reporting team based in St. Paul, Minnesota, spent a year digging into the Flowers case for its In the Dark podcast. A surveillance camera revealed that the killer was wielding a 380 pistol that jammed repeatedly. Jessie Mae Hemphill; Jimmie Gordon; Jimmy "Duck" Holmes; Jimmy Burns; Jimmy Dawkins; Jimmy Holmes; Jimmy Johnson; . Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Willie James Hemphill (1952 - 2006) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. Hallmon has since admitted he lied. Hired by Starz to examine the case, Saums said the crime"suggests somebody who has done it before. It takes no imagination at all to imagine Marcus Presley committing a crime like thatwe have the video from the pawn shop. The bodies of Derrick Stewart, 16, Robert Golden, 42, Carmen Rigby, 45, and Bertha Tardy, 59, were found spread throughout the store and in the back office. They wanted to ask him about his alibi for the day of the Tardy Furniture murders, an alibi that hadn't checked out. Suppressing the evidence theyve already gathered might mean denying justice to the victims. It was all make believe. 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. Reporters also poked holes in Hemphill . 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. We have lots of information about Willie: religious views are listed as Christian . In fact, he said, police never searched the crawl space beneath the house. Jurors at Flowers trials had only heard of one suspect who could have worn Fila Grant Hills Flowers although investigators never found the shoes they said he wore. According to testimony in Flowers' first trial, authorities found $255 hidden in the headboard of Flowers' girlfriend. (1909). Presley wasnt the only suspect defense attorneys didnt know investigators had seriously considered. Who was he? The two of them walked the same school halls from first grade through high school, he said. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. Right now, Willie Hemphill lives in Rock Hill, SC. Evidence suggests that Marcus Presley was a psychopath who enjoyed random violence for its own sake. They also discovered an unfired .380 bullet, which might suggest the gun jammed. "I was coming out of Piggly Wiggly and there was a woman, I will never forget her name. Visitation: 6-8 pm Friday, March 2, 2012 at Laurel Land Funeral Home. Shortly after the killings, police arrested Hemphill, then 24, who was wearing a pair of the Grant Hill Fila shoes. Can Marcus Presleys affidavit be trusted? Yes and no. That might not be so if the whole world wasnt watching, but it is. Gamble and Presley are serving life in prison for their Alabama crime spree. 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.