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Thread: James Edmond McWilliams, Jr. - Alabama

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    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    James Edmond McWilliams, Jr. - Alabama




    Summary of Offense:

    In 1986, McWilliams was convicted and sentenced to death in the December 1984 rape, robbery and murder of Patricia Vallery Reynolds, a 22-year-old convenience store clerk who was shot to death at the store where she worked on Hargrove Road East.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On October 6, 2004, McWilliams filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/ala...v02923/102460/

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On April 17, 2013, McWilliams' habeas petition was DENIED in Federal District Court.

    http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal...2923/102460/97

    On August 27, 2013, McWilliams filed an appeal before the US Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

    http://dockets.justia.com/docket/cir...ca11/13-13906/

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    JAMES E. MCWILLIAMS v COMMISSIONER, ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

    In today's opinions, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals DENIED McWilliams' appeal.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On February 16, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit DENIED McWilliams' petition for en banc rehearing.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/Search....%5C16-5294.htm

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of Alabama death row inmate

    The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a ruling from a federal appeals court in an Alabama death row inmate's case.

    James McWilliams, 60, has been on death row since 1986 after he was convicted of raping and killing a store clerk in Tuscaloosa. After several appeals focusing on the fact McWilliams did not have an independent mental health expert at his trial, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied McWilliams' appeal in 2015.

    Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the appeals court decision and remanded the case to back to a lower court for further review.

    No execution date has been set for McWilliams.

    According to court documents from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, McWilliams said the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court where he was convicted should have granted him a continuance before sentencing, because some psychiatric records had only arrived at court the morning of his sentencing. McWilliams lawyers were only permitted to review the documents during a brief recess at the clerk's office, court documents showed.

    Before his trial, a Tuscaloosa "Lunacy Commission" of three doctors told the court McWilliams was not mentally ill at the time of the crime, competent to stand trial, and was faking psychotic symptoms.

    Dr. John Goff, Cheif of Psychology at Bryce Hospital at the time of McWilliams trial, tested McWilliams and wrote a report to the circuit court. Goff diagnosed McWilliams with "organic personality syndrome." However, the report was delivered to the inmate's lawyers two days before the sentencing hearing, followed by dozens of mental health records and a prison file showing that McWilliams was taking psychotropic drugs.

    The judge refused the defense's request to delay the hearing, and sentenced McWilliams to death.

    Later, McWilliams filed a Rule 32 petition stating his counsel was ineffective both at trial and at sentencing. In 2001, the Alabama circuit court denied the petition and in 2004, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals denied to review the case.

    Justice Stephen Breyer delivered the majority opinion Monday. In the opinion, he stated, "In reaching this conclusion, however, the Eleventh Circuit only considered whether '[a] few additional days to review Dr. Goff 's findings' would have made a difference. It did not specifically consider whether access to the type of meaningful assistance in evaluating, preparing, and presenting the defense... would have mattered. There is reason to think that it could have."

    "The trial judge relied heavily on his belief that McWilliams was malingering. If McWilliams had the assistance of an expert to explain that '[m]alingering is not inconsistent with serious mental illness,' [from the American Psychiatric Association]... he might have been able to alter the judge's perception of the case," Breyer wrote.

    Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion. "We do not tolerate this sort of bait-and-switch tactic from litigants, and we should not engage in it ourselves," he said of McWilliams' previous appeals.

    "The Court's approach is acutely unfair to Alabama. The State surely believed that it did not need to brief the second question presented in McWilliams's petition... It will come as a nasty surprise to Alabama that the Court has ruled against it on the very question we declined to review--and without giving the State a fair chance to respond," he wrote.

    https://www.google.com/amp/amp.al.co...es_in_favo.amp
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's opinions, on remand from the US Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit VACATED McWilliams' death sentence and ordered a new sentencing hearing. The panel was made up of Judges Tjoflat (Ford), Wilson (Clinton) and Jordan (Obama).

    http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opini...313906.rem.pdf


    James Edmond McWilliams was resentenced to LWOP.

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    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Once again the stain of Kennedy leaves grease everywhere. If the liberals were to get control of SCOTUS they wouldn't hesitate to overturn every correct ruling pertaining to capital punishment. Someone needs to tell Roberts, shrouded from reality in layers of decadence and bliss, the cold hard facts. Justice Thomas is a man who understands that the judiciary is a battleground, and that erroneous rulings must be overturned in the same way that lost ground is reclaimed in a war. There is no constitutional right to have a psychiatrist or any other expert that will enable the crybaby mitigation defenses.
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

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