New trial granted to death row inmate

An appeals court has granted a new trial to a Memphis man convicted and sentenced to die in the fatal shooting of an off-duty city police officer.
Timothy McKinney was convicted in the Dec. 26, 1997, shooting of officer Don Williams, who was moonlighting as a security guard at Crumpy’s Comedy Club. Williams died of health complications a month later.
A Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals panel granted a new trial, ruling McKinney’s lawyers did a poor job of representing him.
David Haines, legal counsel in the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, said the ruling was made March 9.
The three-judge panel said the trial lawyers presented such a weak defense that McKinney’s constitutional right to competent counsel was violated.
“Counsel’s failure to conduct an adequate pretrial investigation, counsel’s failure to prepare for trial adequately, and counsel’s failure to use the information available at the time of trial suffices for a showing of prejudice,’’ the ruling stated. “We conclude that a reasonable probability exists that absent the deficiencies of counsel, the outcome of the trial would have been different.’’
McKinney is now 35 years old.
The defense argued at his trial that someone else shot Williams, but the appeals court said the arguments were inadequate.
McKinney was on parole after an aggravated robbery conviction at the time Williams was killed.
McKinney was also convicted at his murder trial of attempted second-degree murder for shots fired at off-duty officer Frank Lee, who testified he chased McKinney after Williams was shot.
State prosecutors haven’t said if they plan to appeal the ruling to the Tennessee Supreme Court.