A Man To Be Executed In Arkansas Next Month Is Making A Last Ditch Push For Clemency

Reuters/Gary Cameron An Arkansas man on death row may get one last chance at clemency when lawyers present previously undisclosed evidence of severe childhood physical and sexual abuse to the parole board on Monday. Marcel Wayne Williams, 46, one of 8 Arkansas prisoners sentenced for execution in the month of April, was sentenced to death in 1997 for the rape and murder of a young woman in 1994. Julie Vandiver, William's lawyer, filed a new clemency petition for Williams after Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson signed a declaration in early March to reinstate capital punishment to the state for the first time since 2005. Williams' execution date is currently set for April 24. Vandiver told Business Insider that she is petitioning for a review of Williams' case based on the fact that the attorneys who represented Williams' in 1997 did not disclose information about his traumatic past to the jury. "Nobody ever did what they were supposed to do in Marcel’s case until it was too late," said Vandiver. Evidence of Williams' childhood came to light in 2006, which new attorneys presented to Arkansas judge Leon Holmes.

 

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