The Defense That Never Defended Him
For more than twenty years, Murray Lawrence Jr trusted a system that was supposed to protect the innocent. Instead, he was passed from one attorney to another, each promising justice, each delivering nothing. Multiple lawyers touched this case over two decades, and the list on this site is not even complete. Any one of them could have exposed the lies, challenged the misconduct, or uncovered the jurisdiction failure that alone collapses the conviction. None did. Their silence, their missed opportunities, and their refusal to confront the truth allowed a wrongful conviction to harden into a life sentence. In the end, Murray was not just failed by prosecutors. He was failed by the very defense that was supposed to fight for him.
WILLIE HUNTLEY JR.
Retained by Murray’s family in 2005, Willie Huntley brought experience and influence but gave Murray no real defense. He allowed false evidence, a racially biased jury, and even had Murray wear earphones during testimony so he could not hear his own trial. In a courthouse where friendship blurred the line between justice and loyalty, was Huntley ever truly defending his client?
GABRIELLE “GABBY” HUMBERT
Assigned through the Birmingham firm Maxwell Tillman, Gabrielle Humber’s short involvement left Murray’s Rule 32 filing incomplete, unanswered, and abandoned. She left the firm without notifying the client, leaving no one to respond to the state’s arguments as federal deadlines closed in. When the state answered, she was already gone. The defense fell silent again.
LEROY MAXWELL JR.
After Humber’s departure, lead partner Leroy Maxwell personally agreed to represent Murray but withdrew during active federal deadlines. His withdrawal left no time to hire new counsel and forced a volunteer to file emergency petitions to preserve Murray’s right to federal review. When the final chance for justice arrived, the firm stepped away.