Mississippi Atorney General seeks execution of 2 men convicted of 1990s murders

Lici Beveridge, Mississippi Clarion-Ledger
Updated ·2 min read
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Two men on Mississippi's death row may be facing execution after 30 years in prison.

Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed a motion Thursday with the state Supreme Court, asking the court to lift the stay of execution for Willie Jerome Manning and schedule his execution. Fitch also seeks an execution date for Robert Simon Jr.

The men, who were convicted of murders in separate cases, have been on death row since the 1990s.

It is up to the Supreme Court to decide whether or when to set an execution date. The court has not yet responded to the attorney general's motions.

Manning was convicted of the 1994 murders of Mississippi State University studentsTiffany Miller and Jon Steckler.

This is a 2002 file photo of the entrance to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Miss.
This is a 2002 file photo of the entrance to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Miss.

According to court documents, Manning shot Steckler in the back of the head. His body had extensive abrasions that “were consistent with being run over by a car,” court records show. Manning shot Miller in the face at close range. She “was found with one leg out of her pants and underwear, and with her shirt pulled up.”

Who's on Mississippi's death row? See the list of inmates awaiting execution.

After his arrest, Manning allegedly confessed to his cousin and fellow prisoner Earl Jordan that he had killed Stecker and Miller. According to court records "a firearms examiner later linked projectiles from the victims’ bodies to projectiles removed from trees in Manning’s yard that his girlfriend said he shot for target practice."

Simon was convicted in October 1990 of four counts of capital murder in DeSoto County and sentenced to death for three of the murders. He was given a life sentence for the fourth.

Simon and Anthony Carr, also on death row, murdered Carl Parker and his wife, Bobbie Jo Parker, and two of their children, Charlotte Parker and Gregory Parker in their Quitman County home before the men set it on fire.

Simon was scheduled for execution in 2011, but the execution was stayed while a federal court of appeals examined Simon's case. Upon review, the judges determined Simon should stay on death row, but a second execution date was never set.

Do you have a story to share? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Execution dates sought for 2 Mississippi prisoners