A Black man once sentenced to death for murder fights for freedom after discovering his attorney defended the Ku Klux Klan

A Black Man Once Sentenced to Death Fights for Freedom

Healfromzero.com – The automated voice crackles through a prison phone line: “You are receiving a call from the St. Clair Correctional Facility. To accept this call, press 5.” A click, then a new voice breaks through — Robin “Rocky” Myers, clad in a khaki jumpsuit, speaking from a recreation yard roughly 30 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. For a handful of minutes, the walls of confinement fall away. A Black man once sentenced to death in 1994 for killing his White neighbor, Ludie Mae Tucker, tells reporters he has spent 31 years in a single cell and wants nothing more than a car and open roads. “I want to be free,” he says, with the quiet urgency of a man who has rehearsed this wish for decades.

The Petition and a Troubling Past

Myers maintains his innocence. Court documents show no DNA linked him to the scene where Tucker was stabbed in the heart. His conviction rested on circumstantial evidence and testimony from witnesses his current attorneys call unreliable — including one who later recanted. A nearly all-White jury recommended life without parole, but the presiding judge overrode that recommendation and imposed the death penalty.

Now, years later, new information about the attorney originally appointed to defend Myers has reignited his bid for exoneration. LeAndrew Hood, Myers’ son, put it plainly: “He had a lawyer that didn’t care about him.” That lawyer, John Edmond Mays, had spent the 1970s and ’80s representing the Ku Klux Klan in court. In 1987, the United Klans of America was ordered to pay $7 million over the 1981 kidnapping, beating, and murder of Michael Donald, a Black teenager in Mobile, Alabama. Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and counsel for Donald’s family, confirmed that Mays defended the Klan in that case. In court, Mays called Donald’s killing a “gross and horrible atrocity” while arguing the organization itself should escape liability.

Then, in 1992, Mays was appointed by the Circuit Court of Morgan County to represent Myers. Mays declined to speak directly to CNN but, through a friend and fellow attorney, Richard Jaffe, conveyed a statement: “I took Rocky’s case because I hate the death penalty and I felt I could provide him with effective representation.” Jaffe, who says he has Mays’ permission to relay comments, argued that prior Klan work does not diminish the “effective and passionate” advocacy Mays offered Black clients throughout his career. “It was not a popular thing for him to do in that small town. Think ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,'” Jaffe added.

On Monday evening, however, the Morgan County District Attorney filed a brief opposing Myers’ petition to overturn his conviction. The matter now rests with a judge. For a father of four who has spent more than three decades on death row, the setback leaves his dream of reuniting with his family suspended once again.

“When I get out, I don’t want a house. I don’t want an apartment. I want a car where I can drive everywhere.” — Robin “Rocky” Myers

In 2025, with execution imminent, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey — a Republican and vocal death-penalty supporter — granted clemency, commuting the sentence to life without parole. She cited sufficient uncertainty about Myers’ guilt to bar the execution. Yet clemency did not resolve the deeper question: whether Alabama will allow a Black man once sentenced to die for a crime he says he did not commit to remain locked away indefinitely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Rocky Myers currently held?

Myers is incarcerated at St. Clair Correctional Facility, located approximately 30 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. His death sentence was commuted to life without parole in 2025 by Governor Kay Ivey.

What is the current status of his petition?

The Morgan County District Attorney filed a brief opposing the petition. The decision now rests with a judge. Myers’ current legal team continues to press for exoneration based on new information about his original appointed counsel.

Why does the connection to the Ku Klux Klan matter?

Myers’ original court-appointed attorney, John Edmond Mays, had previously represented the United Klans of America in a landmark civil case. Myers’ family and current counsel argue that this history raises questions about the quality and impartiality of representation he received at trial.

What evidence supported the original conviction?

No DNA evidence tied Myers to the crime scene. The conviction relied on circumstantial evidence and witness testimony, including from a witness who later recanted. A nearly all-White jury recommended life without parole, but the judge imposed the death penalty over their recommendation.