At the coffin of Colonel Johnson, I tell the Johnny Harris story.
I eulogized both Simmie Lavender and Reverend Shuttlesworth’s "homecoming." Time passed and other loyal friends crossed over, including the Colonel.
I had never told the story of Johnny Harris, but I was standing over the coffin of my dear friend, Colonel Stone Johnson, and the words just came to me. I told the story of Fred and Simmie coming to me when I was Attorney General and asking that I get Johnny Harris off death row.
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. . .told by the head of our Capital Murder Division that all I needed to see was the jury verdict. . . .
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I told the congregation of how when I asked to see the case file, I had been told by the head of our Capital Murder Division that all I needed to see was the jury verdict, and how I had insisted on reviewing the entire file.
I told the congregation what I found: Johnny Harris had moved into a neighborhood where several white police lived. One was a police lieutenant who had been linked to the Klan during the investigation of the church bombings. It was that police lieutenant who arrested Johnny Harris. Johnny's court appointed attorney never even checked the file out and never interviewed the alleged rape victim. The lawyer got Johnny to plead to three life sentences to avoid the death penalty. Johnny was sent to Alabama's worst prison, Holman, where he joined in protests against cruelty and inhumane work. The beatings with rubber hoses and whips and the use of cattle prods allegedly got worse when Johnny and other inmates formed a Prisoners Union demanding better treatment. There was a riot. A guard was stabbed to death. The warden pointed the finger at Johnny Harris. Alabama's white state attorney general, running for governor, decided to prosecute Johnny himself. It generated a lot of press for the new "tough on crime" attorney general.
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With that exculpatory evidence in hand, we were able . . . to finally get Mr. Harris off death row. . . .
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But when I looked at the file, I saw that Johnny Harris's cell was in a separate, segregated part of the prison. It was possible, but highly unlikely, that he could have gotten out of his cell, gone to where the guard was, stabbed him to death, cleaned the blood off, changed, and gotten back in his cell before being discovered. That evidence was withheld from the defense. With that [and other] exculpatory evidence in hand, we were able to legally maneuver to finally get Mr. Harris off death row, something my dear friend Colonel Johnson never forgot.
I concluded by saying, looking down from the pulpit, gesturing toward the open coffin of my friend who had fought against injustice, “If it had not been for this man right here...if Colonel Stone Johnson had not acted, another innocent Black man would have been put to death at the hands of the state."
The service ended. I said my goodbyes to my friend and was walking out of the church when a hand reached out touching the sleeve of my coat. I turned: "Governor, I'm Johnny Harris. Thank you."
The criminal justice system is broken, everybody knows it. It's time to fix it.
