Bryan Stevenson and EJI Continue Winning Death Row Exonerations

Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative has secured exonerations or relief for over 140 wrongly condemned death row prisoners by 2020, the majority of whom are Black. Stevenson's 2014 memoir Just Mercy, detailing the case of Walter McMillian — a Black man wrongfully convicted in Alabama — became a best-seller and was adapted into a 2019 film. EJI's work highlighted systemic failures: prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate counsel, racial bias in jury selection, and false testimony. McMillian had been placed on death row before his trial even began.