Atlanta murderer jailed for life

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 1

Atlanta murderer jailed for life

NZPA Atlanta Wayne Williams has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of two of 28 young blacks killed in a 22-month period in Atlanta. After deliberating for almost 12 hours, the jury found Williams, aged 23, a freelance photographer and music promoter, guilty. The sentences will be served consecutively. In Georgia, a person sentenced to life imprisonment can be eligible for parole in seven years. Before being sentenced, Williams said, “I maintained all along through this trial my innocence and I would still do so today ... I more than anybody want to see this terror ended.” Williams was charged with killing Nathaniel Cater, aged 27, and Jimmy Ray Payne, aged 21. He was arrested last June. Since then, there have been no murders of young blacks which brought fear and racial tension to Atlanta. Williams’s lawyer, Mr Alvin Binder, told reporters that the defence had not yet decided whether to appeal against the verdict. Besides charging Williams with the murders of Messrs Payne and Cater, the prosecution was allowed to introduce evidence that linked him with the murders of 10 other young blacks among the 28 killed. Mr Binder said he believed he could have won the case if evidence from those 10

killings had been barred from the trial.

Prosecutors relied heavily for evidence on the analysis of more than 700 synthetic fibres found on the bodies of the 12 victims, arguing that the fibres were “microscopically similar” to some found in the Williams’ home.

The prosecution introduced evidence implying that Williams was a homosexual or hated homosexuals, and characterised him as a man possibly motivated by failures in his music-promotion business and in school.

Williams, ,who lived in a middle-class area with his parents, maintained his innocence and denied knowing anv of the victims.

He said that the prosecution witnesses either held grudges against him or were

mistaken and clouded by the publicity surrounding his case. More than 180 witnesses were called during the nine-week ,trial. The case of the missing and murdered black children began 31 months ago in Atlanta, once called “the city too busy to hate.” It was almost a year to the day after the July 20, 1979, disappearance of Edward Hope Smith, aged 14, that the police formed a modest task force to investigate. By then eight children, all black, had been killed. The circumstances were similar — children seemingly picked off the streets. By the end of the summer of 1980, the special murdered and missing children's task force was expanded to four supervisors and 13 investigators. By last year it had 100 members and was receiving 200 calls a day. The authorities took Williams into custody on June 3, questioning him for almost 12 hours. He was released but 2’2 weeks later he was formally charged with killing Cater. He was later indicted for the murders of Messrs Payne and Cater. Within an hour of the verdict, pre-ordered memorial T-shirts were being hawked at $4.25 each in the courthouse press room.

Buyers even received a warranty. The shirts were “guaranteed to be microscopically similar to millions of other shirts."