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Thread: Kenneth Dewayne Williams - Arkansas Execution - April 27, 2017

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    Kenneth Dewayne Williams - Arkansas Execution - April 27, 2017


    Dominique "Nikki" Hurd




    Summary of Offense:

    Williams received a death sentence for the October 3, 1999 slaying of 57-year-old Cecil Boren after Williams broke out of the Cummins Unit at Varner. He had been serving a sentence of life without parole in the slaying of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique "Nikki" Hurd.

    Williams was sentenced to death on August 30, 2000.

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    December 15, 2005

    Death Row Inmate Pleads Guilty To 3rd Murder

    An Arkansas death row inmate who confessed to killing another man in a letter to the editor of The Pine Bluff Commercial has pleaded guilty to the second death. Kenneth Williams entered the plea Tuesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court. In a hearing at the Jefferson County, Williams said he took the life of Jerrell Jenkins by shooting him twice on December 13th, 1998.

    After reading the charges, Circuit Judge Berlin Jones asked Williams if he was guilty as charged. Williams replied, quote, "Yes I am."

    Williams received a death sentence for the October 3rd, 1999, slaying of 57-year-old Cecil Boren after Williams broke out of the Cummins Unit at Varner. He had been serving a sentence of life without parole in the slaying of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique "Nikki" Hurd.

    On Tuesday, the judge sentenced Williams to another term of life without parole in Jenkins' slaying and to life on a charge of aggravated robbery and ten years on a charge of theft of property.

    In a June letter to the newspaper, Williams said that on the day of the cheerleader's death, he also killed the 36-year-old Jenkins of Pine Bluff.

    http://archive.thv11.com/news/articl...-To-3rd-Murder

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    On July 15, 2010, Williams was denied a Certificate of Appealability by the US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Opinion is here:

    http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/10/07/091062P.pdf

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    July 15, 2010

    A federal appeals panel Thursday rejected a convicted killer’s arguments that he received an unfair trial before being sentenced to die for killing a southeast Arkansas man after escaping from the Cummins prison, where he’d been serving a life term for killing a young woman in Pine Bluff.

    Kenneth Williams, 31, had argued his lawyer was ineffective and that he was denied due process in his 2005 trial for the murder of Cecil Boren, who prosecutors said was tending his garden near the prison when Williams killed him in 1999. Williams had escaped from the prison by climbing into a vat of hog slop moved from the grounds.

    Williams was serving life in prison without parole after he was convicted of capital murder for the 1998 slaying of a University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader.

    Williams was convicted of Boren’s killing in 2005, and the Arkansas Supreme Court also has upheld that conviction.

    Williams, who is now being held in the Varner SuperMax unit in Gould, argued his trial lawyers should have objected to testimony from a Boren relative who testified during the penalty phase and indicated she wanted Williams to be executed. He also argued the lawyers should have used a challenge to keep off the jury a woman who said she believed the death penalty was just.

    In an earlier opinion, the 8th Circuit upheld Williams’ direct appeal of his conviction and death sentence. The Thursday ruling addressed claims Williams subsequently made to the circuit court in Lincoln County, where he was tried. That court denied Williams’ claims, and he appealed that ruling to the 8th Circuit.

    The appeals court found no reason to order a new trial, nor did it reverse on Williams’ arguments that he should not have been shackled during trial, which Williams said prejudiced the jury.

    The court noted Williams had been convicted of one murder, charged with another and had a history of disruptive behavior.

    “The standard ... only pertains where there is no adequate justification for a defendant wearing shackles during his trial,” the opinion states.

    The court also rejected the argument that the trial judge should have granted funds so Williams’ lawyers could investigate the possibility of issues of juror bias or misconduct.

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    Inmate Personal Information

    DOB: 02/23/1979
    Race: Black
    Gender: Male

    Crime and Trial Information

    * County of conviction: Lincoln
    * Number of counts: One
    * Race of Victim: White
    * Gender of Victim: Male
    * Date of crime: 10/03/1999
    * Date of Sentencing: 08/30/2000

    Legal Status

    Current proceedings:
    Cert petition pending
    Williams's motion for rehearing denied on 09/15/2010

    Attorney

    Jeffrey Rosenzweig

    Court Opinions

    Williams v. State, 67 S.W.3d 548 (Ark. 2002); Williams v. State, 251 S.W.3d 290 (Ark. 2007) (affirming denial of post‐conviction relief); Williams v. Norris, 2008 WL 4820559 (E.D. Ark. Nov.4, 2008) (denying habeas corpus); Williams v. Norris, 612 F.3d 941 (8th Cir. 2010) (affirming denial of habeas corpus).

    Legal Issues

    On appeal from denial of habeas corpus:
    (1) whether habeas relief was warranted due to exclusion of expert testimony concerning prison's negligence in allowing petitioner to escape and thereafter commit murder;
    (2) whether denial of funding for a corrections expert deprived petitioner of a fair trial;
    (3) whether error in admission of victim impact testimony was harmless;
    (4) wheter habeas relief was warranted on juror bias claim;
    (5) whether jury's consideration of mitigating evidence violated Eighth Amendment;
    (6) whether counsel was ineffective for not introducing documentation supporting expert's mitigation testimony;
    (7) whether requiring petitioner to wear prison attire during trial violated due process; and
    (8) whether habeas relief was warranted due to shackling of petitioner during trial.

    Other Claims:
    ∙ claim of mental retardation under Atkins
    ∙ trial counsels' failure to investigate and present evidence of Mr. Williams' family and personal history, including history of child abuse and substance abuse by both parents
    ∙ sufficiency of written Miranda warning and waiver prior to two incriminating statements given by Mr. Williams

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Marcel Wayne Williams v Ray Hobbs

    A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of lawsuits by death-row inmates that challenged the way Arkansas conducts executions.

    The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied the appeals on grounds that the lawsuits only speculated about possible problems and didn't identify constitutional violations.

    Marcel Wayne Williams filed one lawsuit and seven other condemned inmates joined in a similar court action.

    The inmates argued that the state shouldn't be allowed to change its lethal injection procedures without proper notice and that the uncertainty heightened their anxiety about suffering as they are being killed.

    The state has no scheduled executions.

    http://www.therepublic.com/view/stor...eals-Arkansas/

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On March 21, 2011, the US Supreme Court denied Williams' certiorari petition.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/10-7909.htm

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    McDaniel seeks executions for 7 felons

    Arkansas' attorney general is asking the state's governor to set execution dates for seven death-row inmates.

    Attorney General Dustin McDaniel sent seven letters to Gov. Mike Beebe late Thursday requesting that execution dates be set for Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Jack Jones, Jason McGehee, Bruce Ward, Kenneth Williams and Marcel Williams.

    McDaniel noted in the letters that six of the seven inmates — all but Davis — are challenging the state's new lethal injection law. Arkansas is changing the drugs it uses to put inmates to death.

    Despite the challenge, McDaniel said there aren't any court orders in place preventing the executions.

    Arkansas currently doesn't have any pending executions. The state last executed an inmate in 2005.

    http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2...ions-7-felons/

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Arkansas Governor Asked to Set Execution Dates for 8 Inmates

    Arkansas attorney general has asked Gov. Asa Hutchinson to set execution dates for eight death row inmates in what would be the state's first executions in a decade.

    A spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge confirmed Tuesday that the request was made. A spokesman for Hutchinson said the governor did not have an immediate timeline for when he would set the dates.

    The Arkansas Department of Correction purchased enough of the three-drug combination used in the state's new execution protocol in late July to perform the executions. A state law passed this year lets the department buy the drugs secretly, as in other states.

    According to an invoice in which the name of the supplier is blacked out, the department paid $24,226 for the three drugs needed for lethal injections, including the sedative midazolam.

    Midazolam was implicated after executions last year in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma went on longer than expected, with inmates gasping and groaning as they died. The U.S. Supreme Court in June approved continued use of the drug, rejecting a challenge from three Oklahoma inmates now set to be put to death in September and October.

    Rutledge's spokesman Judd Deere said there were eight letters sent, one each for inmates Bruce Earl Ward, Don William Davis, Jack Jones, Jason McGehee, Kenneth Williams, Marcel Williams, Stacey Johnson and Terrick Nooner.

    The eight men have exhausted their court appeals for their criminal convictions, but the inmates filed a joint lawsuit in April when the law was passed allowing the state to keep the manufacturer of the drugs a secret.

    Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig, who represents the eight inmates, said Tuesday he plans to "file the appropriate pleadings in the appropriate courts to delay any execution date that the governor might set."

    Arkansas has not executed an inmate since 2005 because the state's execution law had been challenged in court.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/a...mates-33459361
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Arkansas Governor Sets Execution Dates After 10-Year Gap

    Arkansas will resume lethal injections after a 10-year gap starting next month with a double execution, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday as he announced execution dates for eight death-row inmates.

    Arkansas hasn't executed an inmate since 2005, largely because of court challenges to the state's lethal injection law and a nationwide shortage of drugs that Arkansas has used during executions.

    But last week, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sent letters to the governor requesting that execution dates be set. Rutledge said the inmates' appeals had been exhausted, and the state Department of Correction said it had enough doses of its lethal-injection drugs to perform the executions.

    Hutchinson set four dates through January, meaning two men are scheduled to be executed on each date. But he acknowledged that challenges are likely.

    "Quite frankly I would expect continued litigation in it, but it's my understanding that all of the appeals have been exhausted and that there is a finality in the judgment and that is the reason the Attorney General has asked for those dates to be set," Hutchinson said.

    One pending lawsuit challenges a new state law that allows the Correction Department not to disclose how it obtains its execution drugs. Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig, who is representing the eight inmates in the lawsuit, said he and other lawyers are working on filing motions to delay the executions.

    "We think the lethal injection lawsuit presents serious issues that need to be resolved first before any executions can take place," he said Wednesday.

    Federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have rejected similar arguments used by inmates in Missouri, Texas and other states that also allow prisons to keep their drug suppliers' names secret.

    The first two executions are scheduled Oct. 21 for death-row inmates Bruce Earl Ward and Don William Davis.

    Ward, a former perfume salesman, was convicted in the 1989 killing of 18-year-old Rebecca Doss, whose body was found in the men's bathroom of the convenience store where she worked. Davis, who had an execution date set in 2006 that was later stayed, was sentenced to death for the 1990 killing of Jane Daniels in northwest Arkansas.

    The other execution dates are set for Nov. 3 (Terrick Nooner and Stacey Johnson), Dec. 14 (Marcel Wiliams and Jack Jones, Jr.) and Jan. 14 (Jason McGehee and Kenneth Williams).

    Arkansas has executed 27 people since the U.S. Supreme Court reauthorized the death penalty in 1976, though none since Eric Nance was put to death in 2005 for the killing of 18-year-old Julie Heath of Malvern.

    Arkansas's execution protocol calls for a three-drug process. The Department of Correction said that as of July 1, it had enough of the drugs, including midazolam, to perform the executions.

    Midazolam was implicated after executions last year in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma went longer than expected, with inmates gasping and groaning as they died. The U.S. Supreme Court approved continued use of the drug in June, rejecting a challenge from three Oklahoma death-row inmates.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/a...r-gap-33637772

    [I got the names for the dates from http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/pending.html since the article doesn't mention the names on those dates. Way to go Arkansas.]
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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