Williams' execution draws fire abroad

Attorney concedes client ``will die in prison'' but seeks alternative to capital punishment

Web posted August 23, 2000

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Dave Williams
Morris News Service

Before the Georgia Supreme Court granted a stay of execution to Alexander Williams on Tuesday, an Atlanta attorney explored a second avenue of appeal for the Augusta man.

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During a 45-minute closed-door hearing, Harold Daniel asked the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Mr. Williams' death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

``There's no doubt Mr. Williams will die in prison,'' Mr. Daniel told reporters after the hearing. ``We're simply asking that he not be executed.''

Along with the issues of Mr. Williams' age and mental condition at the time of the crime, Mr. Daniel argued that his client was the victim of ``unimaginable'' child abuse that began when he was a baby and continued until his arrest.

According to his application for clemency, abuse by his mother, grandmother and stepfather involved repeated beatings and whippings - including an incident in which his mother cut him with a knife. He also was restricted to his bed for up to several weeks with one meal a day and only bathroom breaks, and sometimes was stripped naked and locked outside of his house, his appeal said.

Mr. Daniel said five of the eight living jurors who sentenced him to death submitted written statements to the board asking for clemency, saying they never would have recommended capital punishment had they known of Mr. Williams' mental state and background of abuse.

``The jury that sentenced Mr. Williams knew virtually nothing about him as a person,'' the lawyer said. ``The jury was given virtually no information about child abuse, the psychotic disorders or the treatment he had experienced.''

Mr. Daniel also pointed out to the board the large numbers of individuals and organizations that have asked that Mr. Williams' life be spared. They include former first lady Rosalynn Carter, Atlanta Archbishop John Donahue, the American Bar Association, the Georgia Mental Health Association and human rights groups from the Children's Defense Fund to Amnesty International.

The 15 nations of the European Union, including some of America's closest allies, also have weighed in on the case.

``The practice of executing juvenile offenders has been abolished in all but five nations,'' Mr. Daniel said. ``And those include some of the nations we brand as extremist, like Iran.''

The board had planned a hearing today to give prosecutors and, if they wished, the victim's family, a chance to rebut Mr. Daniel's arguments. But after hearing of the stay, board members postponed further action indefinitely, spokeswoman Kathy Browning said.

Reach Dave Williams at (404) 589-8424.