WILLIAMS, DOYLE J.
General Information
DOB: October 25, 1947
Race: White
Gender: Male
Crime and Trial
County of conviction: Clay (on change of venue from Callaway)
Number of counts: One (in addition to an additional and related murder for which Mr.
Williams received a life sentence in a separate case)
Race of victim: White
Gender of victim: Male
Date of crime: October 9, 1980
Date of sentencing: November 19, 1981
Date of execution: April 10, 1996
Legal status:
Trial Counsel:
Thomas Marshall and Charles G. Hyler
Last counsel of record:
Charles W. German
Rouse & Hendricks
1010 Walnut St., Suite 400
Kansas City, MO 64106
816-471-7700
Last judicial decision:
--Stay of execution denied by Eighth Circuit following the Supreme Court's order vacating the circuit's earlier unexplained stay. See Williams v. Delo, 82 F.3d 781 (8th Cir. 1996).
Reported Opinions:
--Conviction and sentence affirmed on direct appeal by State v. Williams, 652 S.W.2d 102 (Mo. banc 1983)
--Denial of post-conviction relief affirmed by Williams v. State, 712 S.W.2d 404 (Mo. App. W.D. 1986)
--Affirmance of district court's dismissal of habeas petition for failure to exhaust state court remedies. See Williams v. Wyrick, 763 F.2d 363 (8th Cir. 1985).
--Denial of habeas affirmed by Williams v. Armontrout, 912 F.2d 924 (8th Cir. 1990) (en banc), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1127 (1991). [Note: post-exhaustion habeas was initially denied by the district court in Williams v. Armontrout, 679 F. Supp. 916 (W.D. Mo. 1988). The Eighth Circuit panel reversed in part and affirmed in part in Williams v. Armontrout, 891 F.2d 656 (8th Cir. 1989), but the court en banc vacated the panel's opinion and affirmed the district court's judgment in its entirety.].
--Vacating of stay of execution entered by Eighth Circuit after filing of Mr. Williams' third petition for habeas corpus. See Bowersox v. Williams, 517 U.S. 345 (1996).
--Stay of execution denied by Eighth Circuit following the Supreme Court's order vacating the circuit's earlier unexplained stay. See Williams v. Delo, 82 F.3d 781 (8th Cir. 1996).
Significant legal issues:
--due process and equal protection claims stemming from the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of first degree murder under a theory of felony murder, in light of (a) evidence that the victim may have been separately kidnapped then murdered in the course of the kidnapping, and (b) abundant case law in Missouri supporting such an instruction in similar circumstances while denying it in Mr. Williams' case
--Brady claim asserting that the prosecution failed to disclose the entire scope of an immunity agreement between the state and Mr. Williams' accomplice and knowingly presented false testimony about the agreement's scope, and counsel's effectiveness in not investigating, discovering, and presenting the evidence in question
--prison's confiscation of Mr. Williams' property (including his legal materials) and other prison conditions as "cause" to excuse the failure to assert and support certain post-conviction claims in state court as well as initial federal habeas petition