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PDFFrom The Grio:
Unless the state’s Board of Pardons prevents it, Pennsylvania is about to execute Terrance “Terry” Williams, 46, who was sent to death row for the 1984 murder of Amos Norwood, a man who had sexually abused him as a child. Months earlier, Williams had killed another man who had raped him. Gov. Tom Corbett set an execution date of October 3, which would make Williams the first person put to death in Pennsylvania in 13 years.
Prosecutors characterized Williams as a serial killer, but the jurors never heard evidence of the years of horrific abuse he suffered from older men. Now, judges, prosecutors, child advocates, the jurors who found him guilty, and the widow of his victim all say his life should be spared. Moreover, over 345,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling for clemency for Williams. Such a viral show of support for a death row inmate has not been seen since Troy Davis a year ago this week.
Terry Williams’ case has exposed the inherent flaws in the administration of the death penalty, and has acted as a catalyst in the push for a death penalty moratorium in the Keystone state.
If the commonwealth makes good on its plans to kill Terry Williams by lethal injection, he would become the first non-volunteer execution since 1978. All three of those who were executed since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty waived their remaining appeals.
There is no question that Williams, then barely 18, killed Norwood, 56, with a tire iron, set him on fire and left him in a cemetery. At 17, he had killed Herbert Hamilton, 50, by cutting his throat with a knife, for which Williams received 27 years.
The jury in Williams’ capital murder case did not know that Norwood, a church leader, had sexually abused Williams from the age of 13, and had raped him until he bled the previous night. Williams’ lawyers failed to properly represent their client by taking the basic steps necessary for capital cases. His new attorneys argue that prosecutors knew about the abuse, but told Williams’ co-defendant, Marc Draper, to testify that robbery was the motive for the killing.
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