An Upstate man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend inside a Greenville grocery store is trying to get his death sentence thrown out, and possibly a new trial.
Charles Christopher Williams took his ex-girlfriend Maranda Williams hostage at her job at a Bi Lo grocery store in 2003 and held her for several hours. When police stormed the store, they found Maranda Williams dead. She had been shot four times with a shotgun.
Christopher Williams confessed to a state psychiatrist after the killing, and Wednesday his lawyer argued to the South Carolina Supreme Court that the judge in the case should have declared a mistrial. Attorney Robert Dudek argued that the state’s forensic psychiatrist should not have questioned Williams before he had an attorney. He also said since the psychiatrist mentioned getting Williams psychiatric treatment if he needed it.
"At that point, she becomes a medical care professional and my client had every reason to believe, 'You know, this woman, this doctor, this forensic psychiatrist, is looking out for my interests in some way.' She was not. There goes the Miranda warnings," Dudek argued to the Supreme Court justices.
Assistant deputy attorney general Don Zelenka, arguing for the state, said Williams' rights were not violated. "She revealed, in fact, what she was and there wasn't any subterfuge that was done at that particular time any more so than a law enforcement officer is interviewing the individual. It doesn't undermine the confession or the statement that was given," he argued.
Dudek also argued that the trial judge should not have sentenced Williams to death because three of the jurors may have been coerced into voting for it. The jury originally told the judge that it could not come to a decision on the death penalty and was split 9-3. The judge then ordered them to deliberate some more, with each side considering the other’s arguments but with no one compromising his beliefs.
"The very real danger was those three jurors holding out for life were going to be coerced into a verdict," Dudek said.
Zelenka argued that the instructions the judge gave to jurors were fair and followed guidelines established by the state Supreme Court in other cases.
There’s no timetable for when the Supreme Court will make a decision.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement