Friday, May 3, 1996
Despite appeals, Keith Williams died by lethal injection By John
Digrado
Daily Bruin Staff
Marking the third execution in California since the
reinstatement of the death penalty, Keith Daniel Williams died by
lethal injection this morning for the murders of three people
during a 1978 robbery.
The execution was met with sporadic protests both in Los Angeles
and across the state as local civil rights groups staged a
candlelight vigil and march through Westwood late Thursday
evening.
As midnight approached Thursday, about 200 demonstrators
gathered outside San Quentin prison to protest Williams’ with a
mock funeral.
Locally, about 50 members of Amnesty International, Death
Penalty Focus and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) held a
candlelight vigil at the West Los Angeles Federal Building.
Protesters held signs and garnered both support and jeers from
passers-by as they marched through the Village late Thursday
evening.
"We cannot exact the perfect punishment of death when we have
such an imperfect criminal justice system," said Stephen Rohde, a
constitutional attorney and vigil coordinator. "It’s cruel and
unusual punishment, and I think it is administered in a fashion
that violates due process."
Originally convicted on three counts of murder in 1978, Williams
had hoped for a stay of execution from the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals — a plea rebuffed by review justices late Wednesday.
Lawyers said they obtained 595 pages of medical records that
federal prison officials had withheld since 1984. The documents
showed Williams suffered from epileptic seizures and
manic-depression, and could behave in prison under medication,
defense lawyers said.
Williams’ request was denied, however, after judges decided that
his counsel had not justified their failure to obtain the medical
records earlier. The court also said that his attorneys had not
shown that the evidence could have changed the jury’s mind.
"Williams himself has known for years  presumably since at
least 1984 Â that more Federal Bureau of Prisons records must
have existed than (the 21 pages) turned over at the time," said
Judge David Thompson in the 3-0 decision.
"This dilatory approach to pursuing the records Williams knew
must be there hardly shows a reasonable and diligent
investigation," he continued.
Rohde claimed that despite the fact that Williams’ execution was
performed via lethal injection, the nature of the death penalty
itself deems it cruel and unusual punishment according to the
Constitution.
"Every western democracy has abolished (the death penalty),"
Rohde said. "The United States is in league with China, Iraq and
Nigeria in actively pursuing capital punishment."
Protesters also brought up Williams’ mental state at the time of
the murders, claiming that his acute case of manic-depressive
syndrome as well as head trauma may have contributed to his
actions.
Had the jury known about his mental state, opponents contend,
Williams may have been spared going under the needle and would have
made him a candidate for life imprisonment without the possibility
of parole.
Williams was treated for manic-depression in prison and was
described by guards as a "model prisoner" under medication —
claims that protesters held as evidence against the death
penalty.
However, state officials claimed that the crimes — two men shot
in the back of the head and a young mother shot four times — were
a perfect example of why California needs the death penalty.
”Within the body of Keith Daniel Williams dwells a malignant
heart,” Republican Gov. Pete Wilson said Wednesday, in denying a
request for clemency.
But protesters dismissed such comment as the result of political
maneuvering on Wilson’s part, playing on an "unaware" public’s fear
that opponents believe keep the death penalty in practice.
"Taking a life done by anybody is wrong and immoral," said Sam
Mistrano, legislative director for the Southern California branch
of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"We are not defending murders and rapists against being punished
but we are protesting the fact that the government and our
democracy is compounding the crimes by killing them as well,"
Mistrano said.
Williams’ case is one that spans more than 17 years, beginning
with his conviction of murdering dairy workers Miguel Vargas and
his cousin, Salvador Vargas at a Merced farmhouse in October
1978.
Prosecutors said he killed them while stealing a bad check he
had given Miguel Vargas for a car. He was also convicted of
murdering Miguel Vargas’ pregnant girlfriend, Lourdes Meza, whose
body was found near Sonora about 50 miles away.
Williams’ first appeal claimed his trial lawyer was incompetent
for failing to obtain any of his medical records, and for
introducing psychiatric testimony that portrayed him as a racist
who was likely to kill again. It was rejected on both the state and
national level.
In his latest appeal, Williams’ attorneys said they had obtained
the medical records that federal prison officials had withheld
since 1984, when the files were first requested.
Protesters said that had those additional documents been
available to the jury, his death could have been avoided since jury
members may have been swayed away from the death penalty due to the
new information.
"We don’t deny that a jury found Williams guilty of three brutal
murders," Rohde said. "(Had) those documents been available to the
jury, they might have decided on life imprisonment without the
possibility of parole instead of death."
Though Williams’ execution was carried out despite their public
demonstration, protesters at the vigil made a renewed commitment to
their opposition of the death penalty. Several attendees spoke out
against the government for allowing capital punishment in the first
place.
"The point is that any government with the power to take a life
is going to abuse that power," said Abraham Bonowitz, a U.S.
Amnesty International board member. "Every time the state kills
someone, they do it on behalf of every (citizen), whether they like
it or not."
Compiled with Daily Bruin wire reports.
SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin
Protesters gathered at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westwood
to oppose the execution of Keith Daniel Williams.SCOTT O/Daily
Bruin
At 12:08 a.m., a woman hears the announcement of the death of
Keith Daniel Williams over the radio.SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin
The candlelight vigil at the Federal Building began at 6
p.m.