Wayne Williams Still Fighting His Conviction
DanaPointe
ATLANTA (AP) - Lawyers for convicted killer Wayne Williams, blamed for
the murder of two dozen boys and young men in the late 1970s and early
'80s, are seeking police documents about a child molester who lived in
the area.
In an appeal of a federal judge's rejection of Williams' challenge to
his incarceration, his lawyers are asking for the right to subpoena
police files containing information about the molester.
The court papers made public Friday don't name the man, but they say he
is a convicted multiple child molester currently serving time in a
Georgia prison. They also allege that investigators knew the man was a
viable suspect in the child murders but never told defense attorneys.
Evidence about the man resurfaced within the last year after a former
police chief in DeKalb County, near Atlanta, reopened the investigation
into five killings, the court papers say.
"A profound miscarriage of justice has occurred in this matter, which
not only has kept (Williams) behind bars for a majority of his adult
life, but also which kept a blind eye to bringing the real killers of
these many victims to justice," the lawyers wrote in the motion.
A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office did not
immediately return a call seeking comment.
Between 1979 and 1981, 29 black boys and young men were killed in the
Atlanta area, sparking fear throughout the region.
Williams was convicted in 1982 of murdering Jimmy Ray Payne, 21, and
Nathaniel Cater, 27, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
Evidence of a pattern of conduct in 12 of the murders was used in his
trial. Afterward, officials declared Williams responsible for 22 other
deaths, and those cases were closed.
Williams, who is black, has contended that he was framed. He has
maintained that Atlanta officials covered up evidence of Ku Klux Klan
involvement in the killings to avoid a race war in the city, a claim
investigators have denied.
The new court papers allege that a former medical examiner who
conducted autopsies on all the victims planted fiber evidence on the
bodies to test whether such fibers are too common to link to only one
person. Williams' lawyers claim the examiner now acknowledges that "50
percent of those fibers that were presented were fibers that could have
been on all of us as well."
The motion also repeats claims that a key witness against Williams was
in a youth detention center at the time he allegedly saw Williams with
one of the victims, and that investigators were too quick to dismiss
allegations that the KKK was involved in the killings.
In an April telephone interview from prison with The Associated Press,
Williams said he is confident about his prospects after more than 20
years in prison.
"I'll say this 100 times. It should be obvious right now of my
innocence," he said.
Messalina
Oh shut up. There's no way a white person could have gotten that many
black kids to trust them, let alone escaped the notice of others while
they attempted to.
Mez
Bo Raxo
Messalina wrote:
> DanaPointe wrote:
> >
> -SNIP-
>
> Oh shut up. There's no way a white person could have gotten that many
> black kids to trust them, let alone escaped the notice of others while
> they attempted to.
>
> Mez
Bonus points: White supremacists who kill children do it via bombings,
as mass murders.
White supremacists who are serial killers, to the best of my knowledge,
invariably target adult victims. If there's ever been one that
targeted children, somebody please point him or her out.
And white supremacists seldom take the time to dump the victim in the
water. They like leaving the bodies out where they can serve to send a
message - that's what terrorists do.
Now not every single crime in the world fits previous patterns, but
there are damn few that don't.
Bo Raxo
DanaPointe
> The biggest sign of guilt to me, is that the murders stopped after he was caught.
Except that they didn't. They just stopped getting so much media
attention because the police said they had their man, so any further
child killings were downplayed by the police and called isolated
incidents.
Messalina
Bo Raxo wrote:
> Messalina wrote:
> > DanaPointe wrote:
> > >
> > -SNIP-
> >
> > Oh shut up. There's no way a white person could have gotten that many
> > black kids to trust them, let alone escaped the notice of others while
> > they attempted to.
> >
> > Mez
>
> Bonus points: White supremacists who kill children do it via bombings,
> as mass murders.
>
> White supremacists who are serial killers, to the best of my knowledge,
> invariably target adult victims. If there's ever been one that
> targeted children, somebody please point him or her out.
>
own race unless their taking down targets of opportunity, i.e.
prostitutes?
Mez
DanaPointe
> Well I don't think children were strangled and thrown into the Chattahoochee River after he was arrested.
The only victims thrown into the river, were the adult men that
Williams was convicted of killing. The children were found in various
locations. A good source of info on this case (the Atlanta child
murders, not just the Williams case) is "The List".
Cyli
wrote:
>Oh shut up. There's no way a white person could have gotten that many
>black kids to trust them, let alone escaped the notice of others while
>they attempted to.
>
>Mez
Quite true. This was a long lasting series of highly publicized
murders. We read about every one even up in the upper midwest. I
can't imagine that any white man seen near a black child after the
third or fourth murder wouldn't have been spotted and noticed. After
a couple more, any white man and most white women in the area would
have been watched carefully whether they went near a black boy (or
girl, though I don't believe any girls were killed) or not.
My personal reaction when Williams was arrested and I saw his pictures
and read about his life was; oh, yeah, he looks and sounds right for
it. However, I'm not a good judge because when I went to the photos
of serial killers versus nice professionals site, I was only at about
60% right.
The only way I can see that it could have been a white would have been
if he'd taken the chemicals that turn the skin dark (ref: Black Like
Me) and tried to blend in with the black population. Highly unlikely
for a White Supremacist to be willing to do so.
--
r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless. Really.
Don't ask me what time it is lest I'm of
a mood to tell you how to make a clock.