A Philadelphia judge on Friday granted a condemned man a rare hearing to weigh whether prosecutors failed to disclose key evidence indicating the true motive behind a grisly killing nearly 30 years ago.
The ruling is a major break for Terry Williams, 46, slated to be the first prisoner in more than 50 years to be executed in Pennsylvania while still appealing his sentence. Attorneys for Williams say his life should be spared due to his traumatic and violent childhood, and the fact that he was sentenced to die for killing a man who sexually abused him and other teenage boys.
Judge Teresa Sarmina, of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, did not stay Williams’ execution, which is scheduled for Oct. 3, but allowed a hearing next Thursday that opens the door to that possibility. His attorneys want Williams’ sentence reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Williams was sentenced to die for murdering Amos Norwood, 56, a chemist and church volunteer, whose body was found stabbed, bludgeoned and partially burned in a Philadelphia cemetery in June 1984. Police traced Norwood’s stolen credit card to Williams and Marc Draper, a childhood friend who pleaded guilty to murder and implicated Williams in the crime.
His arrest and trial shocked the city. A college freshman, Williams was the star quarterback of his championship high school football team, and a popular and academically gifted student.
Prosecutors argued at trial that the murder was a robbery that went wrong. Williams’ attorneys now say the killing was motivated by rage Williams felt toward Norwood, who Williams said started paying him for sex when he was 13.
But jurors never heard Williams’ claims that he and Norwood were involved sexually, or that Norwood was implicated in the sexual abuse of underage teenage boys in his church congregation. The jury also did not hear Williams’ claims that he had been sexually victimized by neighborhood men and older teens from early childhood through adolescence. Williams was three months past his 18th birthday — the legal cutoff for execution in the U.S. — when Norwood was killed.
After his arrest in the Norwood murder, Williams was charged and convicted of third-degree murder for the savage stabbing death of another man, later identified as a prolific abuser of teens. The man’s body was found in room scattered with dozens of Polaroid photographs of nude teenage boys.
State and federal appellate courts found that Williams’ attorney in the Norwood case was negligent in not presenting evidence of abuse at trial, but rejected his appeal anyway, ruling that the negligence did not materially impact the jury’s verdict.
Mamie Norwood, the victim’s widow, has pleaded for clemency for Williams, but Philadelphia prosecutors are pushing hard for his execution, recently filing a 107-page brief opposing defense motions for a stay.
The approaching execution has touched a nerve in Pennsylvania, where several high-profile child sex abuse trials this year have forced widespread soul-searching over the failure by church leaders and educators to root out and report sexual predators in their ranks.
“If any state should know what sexual trauma does to somebody, it’s Pennsylvania,” said Marc Bookman, executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, an anti-death penalty group. “And this is the person that gets executed?”
In July, a senior priest with the Catholic Church’s Archdiocese of Philadelphia was sentenced to three to six years in state prison after being convicted of allowing a priest known to him as a sexual predator to maintain extensive contact with children. Judge Sarmina, who ordered the new hearing for Williams, oversaw thetrial.
In June, Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach at Penn State University, was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse over 15 years. Testimony at Sandusky’s trial established that top university officials were repeatedly told of the abuse but did not report it to police.
Next week’s hearing will feature testimony from Draper, who pleaded guilty to acting as Williams’ accomplice in the murder of Norwood and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Andrea Foulkes, the Philadelphia assistant district attorney who prosecuted Williams and Draper, also was called to testify.
In sworn declarations to Williams’ defense team, Draper described the events of Norwood’s murder and said that Philadelphia prosecutors told him not to discuss sexual involvement between Williams and the older man.
According to his declarations, the night of the killing, Draper and Williams were hanging out on a street corner when they were approached by Norwood in his car. Norwood picked up the two boys and drove to a nearby cemetery. “Norwood was very comfortable,” Draper wrote.
At the cemetery, Williams and Norwood went off alone, presumably to have sex, according to Draper.
“After some time passed, Terry came back to the car and told me to come with him,” Draper wrote. “Terry was acting crazy. He started yelling stuff and began hitting Norwood with a tire iron.”
“He was yelling ‘so you like boys, so you like boys’ as he hit Norwood.”
Draper’s statements about Norwood having sex with Williams were never disclosed to the defense or at trial, according to Williams’ attorneys. “Neither Ms. Foulkes nor the police wanted to hear anything about the case having to do with Norwood having sex with Terry,” Draper said in his statement.
Foulkes, who now works as a federal prosecutor, told the Philadelphia InquirerFriday that she could not comment on the case.
Williams’ defense team also wants to present affidavits indicating that Norwood propositioned and molested teenage boys he oversaw as a youth leader at a Philadelphia church.
In February, the Rev. Charles Poindexter, 80, pastor at St. Luke’s Church in Philadelphia for 33 years, provided a signed statement for Williams’ defense and an investigator, describing his suspicions that Norwood was abusing teenage boys in the congregation. Norwood spent an inordinate amount of time with the teens, lent them money and let them sleep over at his house, Poindexter said.
In his statement, Poindexter also said that several years before Norwood’s death, the mother of a 15-year-old boy told him that Norwood had fondled her son’s genitals while driving him home from a church event.
“She also told me that Amos had inappropriately touched a number of other boys at the church,” Poindexter said in the statement. “The mother and her son eventually left the church.”
Reached by phone at his home in Virginia, Poindexter denied making any incriminating statements about Norwood to the defense team. But the signature at the bottom of the defense affidavit is identical to the one at the bottom of a police statement Poindexter gave police in 1984, days after Norwood’s murder.
In the police interview, Poindexter was asked whether he was aware of “any homosexual tendencies involving Amos.” He said no.
“He was one of the straightest persons as far as I knew,” Poindexter told officers. [source]
What say you? Should this man really be put to death for this??
Nawl, and they should go after those lawyers that suppressed evidence too.
I'm torn on this
he said himself that the man he killed was PAYING him for sex…at the age of 13….how is that abuse?
when you willingly accepted payment for sex
I'm just torn
At 13 years old, paid or not, this is rape. Not forcible but statutory RAPE. How are you going to pay a minor child for sex? How can it be consensual? It can't be. This was abuse.
I don't think he should be put to death for killing the man but should remain in prison for life without the possibility of parole.
how can it not be consensual?
at 13 didn't you know right from wrong?
it doesn't make me think this child was forced into having sex with this grown ass man
I'm quite sure there is more to this story
a lot of it does not add up to me
At 13 yrs old I had already been molested by a family member who had convinced ME and the rest of my family that I was his favorite niece. The sexual abuse was not consensual although I accepted gifts and whatnot from said family member. The gifts were a tool to keep me quiet and complicit with his previous foul actions. In that vein, I see the "money" being the same tool used especially if the sexual contact started long before then. I'm not saying that there isn't more to the story but what I am saying is putting the onus on a 13 year old child who is being paid to be sexually abused is WRONG.
I'm sorry you went through all of that
and it could be my cynical mind since I've seen as many lies as I have truths in my time…
and I think the story is written that way…to give a lot of huh? what? confusion…
the way it is written…I'm confused to the whole thing
and no I am not saying that abuse is right or whatever someone is probably going to come in here and say
but based on THIS ARTICLE I am just completely torn on this subject
In this day and age, yes…you should be cynical. However, this was 30 years ago and placed within the context of the times….I still refrain from pointing fingers at the child. But I've not been known to be unbiased or clear-headed and unemotional when it comes to sexual abuse and children.
I was thinking the same thing myself.
A lot of other things don't add up about their case either: why plead "robbery gone wrong", when the case of "sexual abuse" revenge would of been more beneficial? Why wait till they were around the corner of his execution to bring this all up? etc. etc.
If this were a little girl would it be the same issue?
This part of the story kind of sways my thoughts on this in another direction..''Williams said started paying him for sex when he was 13''…..So at first I thought that the guy had taken the booty without an invitation,but This kid was basically Duece Bigalo,underage gigolo.Yes taking advantage of a Minor is wrong,but also being a minor taking money for sexual favors is also a big hell no.13 is by no means old enough to make smart sexual choices,BUT,it is old enough to know basic right from no way in hayle this shyt is right.
that's what I'm saying…
that is the part that has me so torn on this
and as fydbac said above…why did you wait so long to tell your story?
something ain't clean in the milk with this
No, that milk is rancid!!!I'm not trying to make light of this story,but there are far too many holes and inconsistencies to draw any type of fair conclusion.Did it really go down like this? Only 2 people know the truth and one of them is dead.It seems like the defense team may be reaching at straws to get his execution stayed.
I'm steering clear of this post….Where is the OUTRAGE at the pedophile who PAID the 13 yr old for sex? Why are you questioning the child's mind and motives? The rage rises from my gut like a foul bile….I just can't even begin to express…….
Because unfortunately in this day and age….we have to
I can tell you about my cousin a police officer whose now ex-wife convinced their daughter to tell the judge that her dad was molesting her…when he wasn't
he lost everything, job, house, car, everything! because of this lie….
unfortunately in this day and age for every REAL abuse case we have another FAKE one
No, he shouldn't. Plus what Choc said, and a little of what Beth said. One of the few subjects I won't get longwinded on.
We're not talking about a 13-yr old in 2012, but a 13-yr old in 1982 or so; I know I didn't know a whole lot about sex at that age. This man sounds like he was a pillar of the community, faithful church elder, and the abuse he perpetrated didn't come to light until years AFTER the trial. So on the surface you have a good kid who killed the neighborhood 'uncle.' And they suppressed the evidence — maybe because it was too sordid to discuss or face…maybe they wanted the dead man to save face. Even now, people are going back on their written statements about his abuse. And I'm pretty sure an agreement wasn't worked out, but old boy just slipped the kid money for things; implicitly buying his silence. Death row – no; life – yes…and some counseling to deal with those demons.
I seriously have to wonder if it were a little girl at the center of this story if there would be so much cynicism.
probably more cause 13 year old girls (now) are a whole 'nother type of teenager….
you talking to a woman who worked at planned parenthood in the early 90's where I heard 11 and 12 year old girls talk about if I don't have an orgasm everyday I'm having a bad day….
I can rather cynical when it comes to teenagers…I've seen too much in my 42 years and in raising my son….some of the stuff his classmates and friends did….Lawd
Sara Kruzan
But were things the same back then in the early '80s? Regardless, if you are smanging a 13 year old, I don't care what the circumstances, you are a child molester. Everything can't be based on what some teens may or may not have done. This was a grown man who even his fellow pastor suspected of abusing boys and stated it on the record.
Hold up!
After his arrest in the Norwood murder, Williams was charged and convicted of third-degree murder for the savage stabbing death of another man , later identified as a prolific abuser of teens. The man’s body was found in room scattered with dozens of Polaroid photographs of nude teenage boys.
I bet all of y'all overlooked this right here cause I sure did
he killed 2 men!!!??? am I reading this right?
So he killed the man who allegedly molested him and then killed another man who was considered a prolific abuser of teens but they don't say if this man molested this Williams guy.
Yea see this is too much!
So if he has no connection to the other guy he killed then prosecution can argue that he's lying about the molestation from Norwood…
yea like I said
something ain't right here
Makes me think of that movie with Edward Norton…Primal Fear.
I was molested as a young boy. I was showered with gifts at 10/11. By 12/13 I had taken a stand against my molester. I started sleeping with a pistol under my pillow at 13 just waiting for him to mess with me while I was asleep (I had suspected him of doing this at least once). When I was 16 I shot him at point blank range in the chest with a .25 caliber pistol. He had a collapsed lung but did not die. I served almost 2 years in Juvenile Detention/Group homes. He was pleaded out and served 10 years. Since the night I shot him I saw him once and that was in court for MY hearing.
At 35 I still wake up sometimes after having a terrible dream that includes him. If I were to bump into him today I'd want to beat him to death – his only savior being my two beautiful children that need their father more than that man needs to die.
So if this man was being molested as a child (yes 13 yes still a child) then no, he does not deserve to die for this. Punishment is what it is, but death is final.