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AMNESTY ALERT :
6 June 2002
EXTRA 42/02 Death penalty
USA (Texas)
Jeffery Lynn Williams
Jeffery Williams (m),
black, aged 30, is scheduled to be executed in
Texas on 26 June 2002.
He was sentenced to death for the murder of
Barbara Pullins in 1994.
Barbara Pullins was strangled
to death at her home in Houston on the
night of 26-27 October
1994. Jeffery Williams was arrested on 28
October at his girlfriend's
apartment, where several items stolen from
Barbara Pullins's home
were found. He was identified by Barbara
Pullins's nine-year-old
daughter who was allegedly also sexually
assaulted on the night
of the crime.
Jeffery Williams gave
three videotaped statements to police admitting
his involvement in the
killing. In his first statement, he said that
Barbara Pullins had let
him into her apartment, that they had had
consensual sex involving
erotic strangulation, and that she had died
when this went too far.
In his second statement given after a night in
the jail, Williams sought
to implicate his own cousin in the killing. After
continued interrogation,
he made a third statement in which he said
that the motive was robbery,
and that he had killed Barbara Pullins
after the two had had
sex. This third statement was the only one
introduced into evidence
at the trial. Although the defense lawyers
unsuccessfully sought
to have the judge instruct the jury that it could
find Williams guilty
of an offence of less than capital murder, they did
not offer any of the
evidence that would have supported such a
finding, such as Williams's
original statement to police which
indicated that the killing
of Barbara Pullins was accidental or reckless
rather than intentional.
Efforts on appeal to argue that the defense
lawyers were constitutionally
ineffective for failing to raise such
evidence have been unsuccessful.
The jury found Jeffery
Williams guilty of capital murder. The state
provided evidence of
the defendant's long history of car theft and
joyriding in order to
support a finding of his 'future dangerousness' - a
prerequisite to a death
sentence in Texas. The defence lawyers
presented a psychologist
who said that the serious neglect and
sexual and physical abuse
that Williams had suffered as a child had
produced a severe psychological
disturbance in him. During his last
period of confinement
in prison prior to the killing of Barbara Pullins,
he had reportedly had
a psychotic episode in which he experienced
auditory and visual hallucinations
and had attempted suicide. On the
night of the crime, Williams
had apparently been taking anti-psychotic
medication and alcohol.
The jury voted for execution.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International
opposes the death penalty in all cases,
regardless of questions
of guilt or innocence, the seriousness of the
crime, the existence
or absence of mitigating evidence, or the method
used by the state to
kill the prisoner. The organization believes that
every death sentence
is an affront to human dignity, and every
execution a symptom of
a culture of violence rather than a solution to
it. The victims of violent
crime and their families are deserving of
respect, compassion and
justice; retributive killing is surely not the
way to achieve these
goals.
A clear majority of countries
- currently 111 - have abolished the
death penalty in law
or practice. The international community has
ruled out the death penalty
as a sentencing option in international
courts for even the worst
crimes - genocide, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity. The
USA's continuing resort to this punishment,
often in ways and cases
which violate international minimum
safeguards, starkly gives
the lie to its claims to be a progressive force
for human rights in the
world. Since resuming executions in 1977,
780 men and women have
been put to death across the United
States, more than 600
of them since 1990. Texas accounts for 271 of
these executions. Sixty-three
of these prisoners were prosecuted in a
single county, Harris
County, where Jeffery Williams was also tried.
Fifteen of the 31 prisoners
executed in the USA this year have been
killed in Texas.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please
send appeals to arrive as quickly
as possible, in your
own words:
- expressing sympathy
for the family of Barbara Pullins, and
explaining that you are
not seeking to excuse the manner of her
death;
- execution of Jeffery
Williams, and expressing deep concern at the
number of executions
in Texas (you may use any anti death penalty
arguments you wish);
- expressing concern
that his trial lawyers did not introduce available
evidence supportive of
a finding of less than capital murder;
- noting evidence that
Jeffery Williams was suffering from a mental
disorder at the time
of the death of Barbara Pullins;
- calling for clemency
for Jeffery Williams.
APPEALS TO:
Gerald Garrett
Chairperson
Texas Board of Pardons
and Paroles
P.O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 78711-3401
Fax: 1 512 463 8120
Salutation: Dear Mr Chairperson
COPIES TO:
The Honorable Rick Perry
Governor of Texas
State Capitol
PO Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711
Fax: 1 512 463 1849;
or 1 512 463 0039; or 1 512 463 1932
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Amnesty International
is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends
human rights.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International
USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax:
303 258 7881
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