Jessie has been in prison over 17 years for a murder that never happened. Experts on both sides agree she wasn't suffocated, she overdosed on meth.

Description
On April 13, 1997, a woman's body was found on the side of a rural Adair County, Missouri road. She had no apparent injuries to explain how she died. The last person she was seen alive with was her friend and fellow drug-user, Melissa, with whom she had been on a two-day meth binge.

Jessie McKim and James Peavler were convicted of acting in concert to cause Wendy's death by suffocating her. The ME at trial testified that Wendy had been suffocated and the State's case centered around Jessie's supposedly "special knowledge" that Wendy was killed by suffocation.

In 2013, an evidentiary hearing was held for McKim in Cole County, Missouri in which medical experts for both the defense and state agreed that the cause of death was a methamphetamine overdose, NOT SUFFOCATION, it was a drug overdose.

Jessie McKim is innocent. Seventeen years of his life have been lost inside a jail cell for a murder that never occurred. All evidence points to one conclusion: Wendy's death was caused by a self-inflicted drug overdose. In 2013, an evidentiary hearing was held for McKim in Cole County, Missouri in which medical experts for both the defense and state agreed that the cause of death was a methamphetamine overdose, NOT SUFFOCATION, it was a drug overdose. Jessie McKim is innocent. 19 years of his life have been lost inside a jail cell for a murder that never occurred. All evidence points to one conclusion: Wendy's death was caused by a self-inflicted drug overdose. Jessie’s case was heard before the Missouri Court of Appeals- Western District. WD77803. Unfortunately, while the Court of Appeals ultimately agreed with Jessie’s attorney on two important legal issues (which can be used to assist other innocent inmates in bringing petitions for a writ of habeas corpus), the Court unfortunately denied Jessie’s petition. Their grounds for denial were completely different from the Cole County Circuit Court’s grounds for denial because the Cole County Circuit Court found that the victim overdosed on meth but denied Jessie’s release on the theory that perhaps Jessie caused the overdose. The Western District Court of Appeals found that would be an improper ground to deny the petition as that issue was never before the jury. Instead, the Western District Court of Appeals found that despite the uncontroverted medical opinions from six pathologists (including one hired by the Attorney General) that unequivocally agree that Dr. Dix’s opinion was incorrect and inconsistent with the practice of forensic pathology, the Court found that because Dr. Dix did not recant his testimony, there was enough evidence to support a conviction. Unfortunately Dr. Dix is deceased so it is impossible to seek a recantation from him. How often is it that you see 5 doctors and a lawyer - all very busy professionals- who are each independently so shocked upon seeing such obvious injustice caused by fictional medical testimony the government presented at a man's trial resulting in a wrongful conviction that they devote their scare time and valuable skills - pro bono - to try to fix an ongoing injustice suffered by man they had never met? Sometimes you just have to do the right thing. Jessie's attorney has been fighting this case pro bono for 5 years. It's the end of the road and the Missouri Supreme Court denied him. help us to do the right thing and end this ongoing manifest injustice before Jessie dies while wrongfully incarcerated like his co-defendant already did. Six doctors -including the Doctor the AG hired- unanimously agree that the woman two men were convicted of strangling was not strangled but rather died of a meth overdose. Attorneys on both sides agree that she'd been binging for 2 days on meth she herself cooked. Jessie has been imprisoned for a murder that never even happened for over 19 years! His family needs him. It's been 19 years of pain for so many people and enough is enough.