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How a Philly DA Who was Elected to Reform Criminal Justice Keeps More Innocent Black Men In Jail
http://atlantablackstar.com/2016/09/26/how-a-philadelphia-d-a-who-was-elected-to-reform-criminal-justice-is-keeping-more-innocent-black-men-in-jail/Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams — the city’s first Black chief prosecutor who was elected on a platform of reform to a system of mass incarceration and capital punishment, and the heightened criminalization of young Black men — appealed the decision. Williams expressed his disappointment in Judge Brody’s “acceptance of slanted factual allegations” and “a newly concocted alibi defense.”
In the most recent appellate decision, Williams did not indicate whether he would continue to prosecute Dennis. According to Cameron Kline, a spokesperson for Williams, the D.A.’s office “is reviewing the Third Circuit’s ruling and will determine whether to seek further review on the basis of the compelling dissent by four federal judges, who concluded that the evidence against Dennis remains ‘strong,’ ” as Philly.com reported.
And when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued a death penalty moratorium in the state, D.A. Williams sued the governor, claiming he had overstepped his bounds. The state supreme court upheld Wolf’s death penalty moratorium.
Williams, who ran under the slogan “A New Day, A New D.A.,” also attacked Wolf’s decision to issue a reprieve for Terrance “Terry” Williams, who had been scheduled for execution in March of last year. Williams, who had been the victim of rape, beatings, neglect and trauma from age 6, was sent to death row for killing one of the two men who sexually abused him. But prosecutors had hidden this evidence from the jury, and the jury never had a chance to review said evidence, as Counterpunch reported. Numerous people supported a commutation of Williams’ death sentence, including the widow of the victim, five of the jurors, and a multitude of judges and prosecutors, law professors, child advocates, mental health professionals and religious leaders, as The Huffington Post noted. But D.A. Williams insisted that Williams the defendant had received an appropriate sentence, and is one of those rare individuals deserving death.
In the most recent appellate decision, Williams did not indicate whether he would continue to prosecute Dennis. According to Cameron Kline, a spokesperson for Williams, the D.A.’s office “is reviewing the Third Circuit’s ruling and will determine whether to seek further review on the basis of the compelling dissent by four federal judges, who concluded that the evidence against Dennis remains ‘strong,’ ” as Philly.com reported.
And when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issued a death penalty moratorium in the state, D.A. Williams sued the governor, claiming he had overstepped his bounds. The state supreme court upheld Wolf’s death penalty moratorium.
Williams, who ran under the slogan “A New Day, A New D.A.,” also attacked Wolf’s decision to issue a reprieve for Terrance “Terry” Williams, who had been scheduled for execution in March of last year. Williams, who had been the victim of rape, beatings, neglect and trauma from age 6, was sent to death row for killing one of the two men who sexually abused him. But prosecutors had hidden this evidence from the jury, and the jury never had a chance to review said evidence, as Counterpunch reported. Numerous people supported a commutation of Williams’ death sentence, including the widow of the victim, five of the jurors, and a multitude of judges and prosecutors, law professors, child advocates, mental health professionals and religious leaders, as The Huffington Post noted. But D.A. Williams insisted that Williams the defendant had received an appropriate sentence, and is one of those rare individuals deserving death.
