By Bobby Kerlik
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
An Allegheny County judge removed from death row a Crafton Heights man who stabbed his wife and then cut off her head, hands and feet.
Common Pleas Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole ruled this month that Connie Williams, 59, is mentally retarded and vacated his 2002 death sentence. Williams will spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole.
Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said the DA's office is reviewing the decision.
A jury convicted Williams of first-degree murder for stabbing Frances Williams, 53, and dismembering her in August 1999. The jury agreed Williams should die by lethal injection.
Four attorneys for Williams from the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia filed a 135-page petition in 2008 asking to overturn the death sentence based on Williams' low IQ and poor mental functioning.
"After reviewing the very thorough testimony of both the defense and the Commonwealth expert witnesses, the Court is convinced, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant has mental retardation," O'Toole wrote in his April 15 ruling.
Assistant District Attorney Ron Wabby argued that Williams is not retarded and that the death sentence should stand.
Assistant Public Defender Lisa Middleman, who represented Williams during the penalty phase of his 2002 trial, said she was pleased with O'Toole's decision.
"Connie's lack of intellect was evident. I was unable to discuss options with him as I would with a person with average intelligence," Middleman said.
Bruce Antkowiak, a Duquesne University law professor, said it's rare for judges to remove people from death row, but "the Supreme Court made it clear that you can't execute juveniles or other people that meet certain categories."
The judge found that Williams' IQ -- between 70 and 75 -- and significant deficits in adaptive functioning prove Williams has mental retardation.
The judge detailed Williams' inability to read or write, the fact that he held only simple minimum wage jobs for which he needed frequent assistance, and that he has no social skills.
O'Toole cited the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court case Atkins v. Virginia, in which justices determined the execution of mentally retarded people is cruel and unusual punishment.
Williams, a former sausage maker, claimed his wife left him but later admitted to detectives that he stabbed her in the chest during an argument and dismembered her body. He led investigators to where he threw the body, wrapped in a blanket, over a hillside in the North Side and to other parts buried in McKees Rocks.
Williams was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1974 stabbing death of his girlfriend's landlord and sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison. He was released after serving seven years.
Bobby Kerlik can be reached at bkerlik@tribweb.com or 412-391-0927.
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