Williams has maintained his innocence since the 1981 trial that sent him to death row, but he has been unable to produce the type of evidence that has led to exonerations in other cases -- DNA, a rock-solid alibi, recanting witnesses or a third-party confession.
Prosecutors maintain that the evidence against him was overwhelming. But the two federal courts that reviewed Williams' case did not appear to be overwhelmed, even though they upheld his convictions and death sentence.
The prosecution's case was based on cir stantial evidence and the testimony of witnesses "whose credibility was highly suspect,'' U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson wrote in 1998. He noted that there were no eyewitnesses to the shotgun murders of three people at a Los Angeles motel and that the only testifying eyewitness to the killing of a convenience store clerk was "an accomplice who had a strong motive to lie.''
Four years later, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voiced similar qualms, saying the prosecution had relied on witnesses with "less-than-clean backgrounds and incentives to lie" to win lenient treatment for their own crimes.
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The witnesses
The case against Williams depends, ultimately, on the credibility of prosecution witnesses whom the jury found believable in spite of their unsavory backgrounds.
With no evidence that demonstrates his innocence, Williams and his supporters are left to argue that he was framed by witnesses who lied in exchange for leniency and railroaded by a prosecutor who engaged in racist tactics.
Williams was convicted of murdering Albert Lee Owens, 26, a clerk at a 7-Eleven in Whittier (Los Angeles County), who was ordered to lie on the floor and then shot in the back during a $120 robbery on Feb. 27, 1979. He was also convicted of murdering Yen-I Yang, 76, and Tsai-Shai Yang, 63, owners of the Brookhaven Motel in Los Angeles, and their daughter, Yee-Chen Lin, 43, all shot to death during a $100 robbery on March 11, 1979.
No fingerprints, blood or clothing at either crime scene connected Williams to the shootings. The main physical evidence against him was a s casing at the motel, matched to Williams' shotgun by a sheriff's expert whose testing methods have been derided as "junk science'' by an expert hired by Williams' current lawyers. Last week, the state Supreme Court rejected a defense request for new tests of the gun.
The chief eyewitness was Alfred Coward, who took part in the 7-Eleven robbery and was given immunity from prosecution. He testified that Williams had led a group of four men into the store, forced Owens into a storage room at gunpoint, shot the clerk and later laughed about it, imitating the sounds Owens made as he died.
Another of the robbers, Tony Sims, did not testify at Williams' trial but implicated him at Sims' own murder trial, which resulted in a life sentence.
Other prosecution witnesses said Williams had confessed to one or both sets of murders. Samuel Coleman, who was arrested along with Williams and was given immunity from prosecution, testified that Williams had admitted to the motel killings. Williams' lawyers said that Coleman was not alleged to have had any connection with the killings and that it was never clear why he needed immunity.
At a 1994 hearing, Coleman said police had beaten him and threatened to charge him with murder unless he testified against Williams. However, federal courts found that his testimony had been voluntary and noted that he had a lawyer at the time of the trial.
James and Ester Garrett, in whose home Williams regularly stayed, both quoted Williams as telling them, separately, that he had committed both sets of murders and had referred to the motel victims as "Buddhaheads.'' Another witness, jailhouse informant George Oglesby, also testified that Williams had admitted to the killings and said Williams had plotted a pretrial jailbreak in which Coward, the prospective prosecution witness, would be killed.
Williams, who had no serious criminal record despite eight years as a leader of the Crips, did not testify and told his lawyer not to present any witnesses at the penalty phase. At one point, the jury foreman told the judge that Williams was seen mouthing a threat to "get each and every one'' of the jurors who had convicted him.
The defense
Defense witnesses included three who said Williams was elsewhere at the time of the murders and one who said Oglesby was known for spreading false information in jail. Williams' claim of innocence, during and since the trial, has focused on discrediting the prosecution witnesses.
In a recent filing with the state Supreme Court that sought unsuccessfully to reopen the case, Williams' lawyers said the Garretts both had criminal records, faced felony charges at the time of the trial and had been given money and leniency by prosecutors for their testimony.
The lawyers described James Garrett as a "career criminal and police informant'' and accused prosecutors of concealing evidence that might have implicated him in the killing of a former crime partner and might have made him a logical suspect in the motel murders. Garrett, who died in 1996, was given probation or light sentences for a series of post-1981 crimes, including two shootings, and "knew that he could continue to call in favors for the rest of his criminal career,'' Williams' lawyers said.
Coward, who was not prosecuted for his role in the 7-Eleven murder, continued his life of crime and is now in a Canadian prison on a manslaughter conviction for beating a man to death during a 1999 robbery, Williams' lawyers said.
They also said Los Angeles prosecutors had arranged for the appointment of a lawyer for Coleman who would assure his testimony against Williams -- a claim disputed by prosecutors, who said the lawyer was independent and well respected.
Williams and his backers also say the trial was infused with racism. Deputy District Attorney Robert Martin removed three African Americans from the jury, but the racial composition of the jury remains in dispute -- in particular, the race of an apparently dark-skinned juror of Filipino descent who also might have been black.
Nine judges on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- four short of the necessary majority -- said in February that Williams should get a new hearing on the juror removals.
Williams' lawyers also accused Martin of racism for telling jurors, in his closing argument, that seeing Williams in the courtroom was like seeing a "Bengal tiger in captivity in the zoo.'' Defense lawyers noted that the state Supreme Court had overturned two later death sentences in cases prosecuted by Martin because of questions about whether race had motivated his juror selections.
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Former marine he handed the guy the money and said " you" and was shot in the stomach with .357. Spent a year in hospital, much of that in ICU. in a bag etc... Died several years later. I got more instant justice. There was an off duty SAPD detective that was one of my dad's best friends there playing pool. He shot the bad guy in the back of the head.
