Mississippi Supreme Court delays decision on whether to set execution date for man on death row

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has temporarily delayed ruling on whether to set an execution date for a man on death row for capital murder. The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Mississippi Attorney General’s motion to set an execution date for Willie Jerome Manning will be held in abeyance until the Court rules on Manning’s petition for post-conviction relief. The 55-year-old Manning was convicted in 1994 on two counts of capital murder in the December 1992 killings of Mississippi State University students Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller. Manning maintains his innocence and has sought to have evidence in his case re-examined.