Convicted double murker Willie Jerome Manning, who has been on [rip] row for nearly two decades, is set to be executed Tuesday, after being denied a DNA test that could save him from the execution chamber, the New York Times reports.

In a 5-to-4 decision in April, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that there was "conclusive, overwhelming evidence of guilty" and that DNA tests would not "preclude his participation in the crimes," according to the Times.

But in a dissenting opinion Justice James W. Kitchens argued that "whatever potential harm the denial seeks to avert is surely outweighed by the benefits of ensuring justice by the scientific analysis of all the trace evidence."

Dov Fox of the Georgetown University Law Center says that "no physical evidence has ever linked Manning to the crime," in a Huffpost blog.

The 44-year-old black man was convicted in the 1992 kidnapping and murk of Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller, two white college students.

According to the Jackson Free Press:

One of the victims, Tiffany Miller, was shot twice in the face at close range. One leg was out of her pants and underwear, and her shirt was pulled up. Her boyfriend John Steckler's body had abrasions that occurred before he died, and he was shot once in the back of the head. A set of car tracks had gone through the puddles of blood and over Steckler's body.

Dov points out that a jury convicted Manning based largely on the testimony of a cousin of the defendant and a jailhouse informant, who claimed Manning confessed to him.


"The cousin had accused two other men before Manning, however, and the informant has since recanted altogether," Dov writes.

The Washington Post points out that the justice department admits to flaws in forensic testimony as part of a broad review of the FBI's handling of evidence in the 1980s and 1990s.

In urging Gov. Phil Bryant to issue a stay of execution, [rip] Penalty News pointed out that the tests could provide the identity of a possible second perpetrator who has never been caught and put to rest questions over now-outmoded forensic practices, used at the time of the investigation.

"Since 1994, Manning has been seeking DNA testing of the[..] kit, fingernail scrapings that were recovered from both victims and hairs recovered from the scene," the blog states.

In an Atlantic article entitled, "A Ghost of Mississippi: The Willie Manning Capital Case," Andrew Cohen says the specters of racial bias, a faulty confession and untested scientific evidence have haunted this case.

Linda Fondren, a mayoral candidate in Vicksburg, Miss., not only admits to a past life in prostitution, she says her husband was one of her Johns.

"I was a working girl in a legal brothel over 30 years ago. It's true, my husband was my client. My husband and I have been married for 28 years," Fondren told WLBT-TV.

"I knew it would surface because it was around. I just didn't think it would surface and I would be sitting here doing an interview with you today."

Fondren tried to hold off making that admission for weeks, and she even dismissed reporters who brought up a possible tie with Sagebrush Ranch, a legal Nevada brothel.

“These are rumors, and politics is really a business that people do whatever it takes to get things said about people instead of discussing the issues, what concerns people the most,” Fondren told the Clarion Ledger on March 29.

Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Carson City, Nev., says a past career in prostitution is no reason to exclude a candidate.

“[Legal prostitutes] go on to careers in medicine, law, and education, and they fund those educations with the money that they earn here at [brothels like] The Bunny Ranch” Hof said. “I couldn’t be prouder of their accomplishments, and I sincerely believe that Linda Fondren’s time working as a legal prostitute in Nevada has given her the necessary business acumen to be a very successful mayor.”

Fondren isn't nostalgic about her time spent as a prostitute, saying she only did it to support herself after she got pregnant at age 14 and after her mom died of cancer.

She told the[..]ociated Press: “I hated it. I hated it.” She also said that she would not support legal prostitution if elected.

Since leaving the brothel business and moving to Vicksburg, Fondren has earned a national reputation for her efforts at fighting obesity. In 2010, she was declared a CNN Hero for creating Shape Up Vicksburg, a 17-week weight loss challenge that later evolved into a walking club.

Source: Linda Fondren, Mayoral Candidate, Admits To Past Life As A Prostitute (VIDEO)