Gov. Bill Haslam signed an executive order Wednesday morning to exonerate Lawrence McKinney, who was convicted nearly 40 years ago of crimes he didn’t commit.
“Today I granted Lawrence McKinney’s request for gubernatorial exoneration from his 1978 convictions,” Haslam said Wednesday in a statement. “Though the facts of this case are complex, and reasonable minds may draw different conclusions from them, ultimately I respect the determinations of the Shelby County Criminal Court and district attorney general that Mr. McKinney was not guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted and would not have been prosecuted if the DNA testing results had been available at the time of trial. Mr. McKinney was released after more than 30 years in prison when the court set aside his convictions in 2009.
Although the Board of Parole didn’t have the ultimate power to decide McKinney’s exoneration, the group’s decision appeared to strike a blow at the time to the wrongfully convicted man’s chances of clemency from Haslam.
There remains a chance McKinney could not receive the full $1 million compensation he’s eligible for, but Raybin said he believes he should receive the full amount.
McKinney, 61, said the exoneration was in the spirit of Christmas.
“It’s a good merry Christmas to me because of Jesus Christ. That’s what Christmas really stands for — Jesus Christ. I want to thank both my lawyers. I want to thank my pastor and my church. I want to thank my wife for being a pen pal with me and being with me from the year 2009 until now. I’m just blessed,” said McKinney, who said God put the right people in his life.
McKinney also helped Senator-elect Mark Pody and Gov. Bill Haslam.
McKinney said the exoneration symbolized one important thing for him.
“It means that, now, I’m a citizen of the United States,” said McKinney, who said the exoneration means he can travel and spread the word of God.
McKinney gave more credit to his church, Immanuel Baptist Church, who he said has supported him since his release and kept his spirits high. He said he was not surprised about Haslam’s exoneration for one reason.
“The governor is not bound to find anything by clear and convincing evidence. That is a standard the parole board made up on its own. The fortunate thing about this is that this is not a binding decision. This is just a recommendation of a board that looked at some evidence and ignored what we all recognize as clear and convincing evidence of people innocence of DNA,” Raybin said at the time.
Raybin represented McKinney during the September 2016 hearing, along with Jack Lowery.
McKinney has yet to see a penny of the potential $1 million, but with clemency granted, he is eligible to apply for the compensation.
Melissa McDonald, Tennessee Board of Parole communications director, said only the governor could grant exoneration, and then-Gov. Phil Bredesen did not act on the case at the time.
Jennifer Donnals, Haslam’s press secretary, confirmed Haslam received McKinney’s exoneration report in November 2016.
McKinney remained in high spirits following the September 2016 hearing.