Injustice of Executing this Man

Forums: Legal, Death Penalty, Pennsylvania, Terrance Williams
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http://www.terrywilliamsclemency.com/
Pennsylvania is preparing to execute Terrance "Terry" Williams, a man who suffered years of physical and sexual abuse by older males, eventually killing two of his abusers while in his teens.

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[+4] - edgarblythe - 09/16/2012From the Huffington Post A Philadelphia judge on Friday granted a condemned man a rare hearing to weigh whether prosecutors failed to disclose key evidence indicating the true motive behind a...
[+3] - edgarblythe - 09/28/2012By MaryClaire Dale, NBCPhiladelphia.com A Philadelphia judge halted next week's scheduled execution of a teenage killer after finding the trial prosecutor suppressed evidence the victim was...

@edgarblythe,

Hear, hear, edgar!

Quote:

... Terry is deeply remorseful for his actions. There are no excuses or justifications for the crimes he committed. Nonetheless, the abuse he suffered provides significant insight into the betrayed, traumatized, and impaired thinking that led him to commit those terrible crimes. Pennsylvania should not execute Terry Williams because:

- Terry suffered horrific sexual and physical abuse during his childhood and no one intervened to get him help when he was boy;

- The jury did not know about his history of childhood sexual abuse and trauma;

- The jury did not know that the men he killed were his abusers;

- Terry was only 18 years old at the time of the crime for which he was sentenced to death and the jury did not know about the psychological impact of sexual abuse on someone as young as Terry;

- Jurors did not know that he would never be eligible for parole;

- Jurors have stated that they would not have voted for death if they had known about his sexual abuse and ineligibility for parole; and

- The victim’s widow does not want Terry executed for her husband’s killing.

For all these reasons, we urge the members of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, and Governor Tom Corbett to commute Terry’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

http://www.terrywilliamsclemency.com/

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

Has a date been set for the execution?.

1 Reply

@eurocelticyankee,

eurocelticyankee wrote:

Has a date been set for the execution?.

October 3, 2012

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

Yikes!

I question whether he even deserves life without the possibility of parole.

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@eurocelticyankee,

If it were my decision, I would send him home, considering time served sufficient.

1 Reply

What was wrong with his lawyer? Does he have an appeal? That seems really wrong to me, the jury not knowing all this stuff.

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@edgarblythe,

Or at least a retrial with all the evidence presented to the jury this time, from what I've read he'd walk.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

An eye for an eye....

I wouldn't be surprised if he was executed next month.
The justice system is not the most compassionate nor the fairest of system.

Maybe a clemency appeal.

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@eurocelticyankee,

A lot of this now probably depends on the sort of man in the governor's seat.

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

What sort of man is in the governor's seat, edgar?

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@msolga,

I have not checked to see.

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I'd like to hear our legal experts weigh in on this, but it seems to me, as a layman, that there is a clear basis for a re-trial here owing to the fact that so much exculpatory evidence was never presented at trial. Whether this was due to negligence on the part of his defense attoeney or motions denied by the presiding judge is immaterial at this point. There is evidence which clearly points to extenuating or mitigating circumstances that the jury was not aware of.

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From the Huffington Post

A Philadelphia judge on Friday granted a condemned man a rare hearing to weigh whether prosecutors failed to disclose key evidence indicating the true motive behind a grisly killing nearly 30 years ago.

The ruling is a major break for Terry Williams, 46, slated to be the first prisoner in more than 50 years to be executed in Pennsylvania while still appealing his sentence. Attorneys for Williams say his life should be spared due to his traumatic and violent childhood, and the fact that he was sentenced to die for killing a man who sexually abused him and other teenage boys.

Judge Teresa Sarmina, of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, did not stay Williams' execution, which is scheduled for Oct. 3, but allowed a hearing next Thursday that opens the door to that possibility.

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@edgarblythe,

Hoo-bloody=rah!!!

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bookmarking

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@msolga,

This is one of many reasons I hope that I am never treated to a jury of my peers:

“Jurors have stated that they would not have voted for death if they had known about his sexual abuse and ineligibility for parole."

Earth to jury -- there is no such thing as parole when given the death sentence. Parole is getting out before your sentence is over!

No matter, with my luck the parole board would vote to release me 3 years after my execution.

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@edgarblythe,

From an article on the situation:
hmmm...
...Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Thomas Dolgenos, however, argued that "there was simply no evidence" other than Draper's recantation that Williams was ever molested. Certainly, Dolgenos said, Williams never made that claim at his 1986 trial or his subsequent appeals until 1998.

"He has every motivation to make those allegations [of abuse] now," Dolgenos argued. "He has a history of manipulation."

Assistant District Attorney Bridget Kirn said she spoke Sunday night with Norwood's daughter, Barbara C. Norwood-Harris, now 51, who Kirn said opposed clemency.

"She said [her father] was not a child molester and was known for his good works in the community," Kirn told the board...hmmm...

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By MaryClaire Dale, NBCPhiladelphia.com
A Philadelphia judge halted next week's scheduled execution of a teenage killer after finding the trial prosecutor suppressed evidence the victim was molesting boys, “sanitized” witness statements before giving them to the defense and lied about a secret deal she'd struck with the accomplice.

The judge also tossed out Terrance “Terry” Williams' death sentence, granting him a new sentencing hearing.
Williams has been on death row for 28 years and was set to be executed Wednesday. He would have been the first person executed in Pennsylvania in 50 years who had not given up his appeals.
Williams, now 46, could still face the death chamber if prosecutors successfully appeal Friday's ruling. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who planned an afternoon news conference, has called the defendant a “brutal two-time murderer.”

1 Reply

@edgarblythe,

Thanks for the update

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Injustice of Executing this Man

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