The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of Handy Anthony Willis, Jr., who was found guilty of shooting and killing his former girlfriend, Tamaneka Alexander in 2017, in Marion County on Dec. 15. Willis was sentenced to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole.
Alexander was shot in the head by Willis on Oct. 6, 2017 with her five children present. The original guilty verdict was rendered on May 14, 2021.
In the appeal, Willis argued that “the court erred in three critical ways that deprived (him) of a fair trial.” First, he asserted that the trial court violated his constitutional right to confront Police Captain Pete Williams, the lead investigator assigned to his case, about the officer’s prior inconsistent statement. Next, he contended that the trial court erroneously denied his self-defense jury instruction. Finally, he asserted that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction.
The Mississippi Supreme Court ruling stated that a rational juror would have found Willis guilty based solely on the testimony of Alexander's minor daughter, and with threatening text messages added to that, a jury would have found that all of the essential elements of first degree murder were present, and that substantial evidence supported Willis’s conviction.
"We are pleased with the ruling," District Attorney Hal Kittrell said.
