MISSISSIPPI: Williams, 51, dies quietly for torture killing of teen

Jessie Derrell Williams, 51, condemned to die almost 20 years ago for the torture slaying of an 18-year-old woman, died quietly here by lethal injection Wednesday.

 His victim, Escatawpa native Karon Ann Pierce, was sexually mutilated and her throat cut. She bled to death in 15 pain-ravaged minutes on Jan. 12, 1983.

 "I wish to God Karon had that opportunity" to die as peacefully as Williams, said Waldine Riley, Pierce's mother, as she watched Williams dying on the gurney in Unit 17 at the State Penitentiary.

 When officials pronounced Williams dead at 6:42 p.m., Riley shoved her arm into the air in triumph.

 "Whoopee!" Riley said. "Karon, you got it, Baby. We are even."

 Williams, dressed in a red jump suit and brown sandals, said, "No, sir," when Parchman Superintendent E.l. Sparkman asked for any final words.

 After Leonard Vincent, general counsel for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, said, "No stay," the chemicals began to flow into Williams' heavily tattooed arms at 6:29 p.m.

 Williams, his gray hair swept back on his head, appeared to puff his lips between his moustache and beard as the chemicals began to flow. He tilted his head to the right and shut his eyes before his breathing became labored and he drifted into death.

 Sunflower County Coroner Doug Card pronounced Williams dead after putting a stethoscope to his chest. Williams' body will go to University of Mississippi Medical Center.

 The Jackson County man became the 2nd person in Mississippi to be executed this year after the state went 13 years without putting someone to death. Tracy Alan Hansen died in July for the 1987 slaying of state trooper David Bruce Ladner.

 Williams' execution, set for 6 p.m., was delayed almost 30 minutes because the execution team could not find a vein in Williams' arms due to dehydration. Williams declined to eat all day and refused to take a shower.

 MDOC spokesman Ken Jones said Williams also declined to take a sedative, telling officials, "I say 'no' to drugs." He instead took two ibuprofen pills.

 Williams' family opted not to watch him die. He had a low key and relaxed visit with family members between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. according to MDOC officials.

 He was "very subdued" and concerned about his family, Jones said. His mother, Josephine Hunter, was taking the situation "very hard," and his brother, John Williams, was "emotionally upset," Jones said.

 Williams signed a waiver to turn over his inmate funds to his mother. It is unclear how much money he has.

 At 3:50 p.m., Williams returned to his cell to start preparations for the execution. He met with his spiritual adviser, Ruby Walters between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Williams feels he is "finally at release" said Walters, who witnessed the execution.

 Chris Epps, interim MDOC commissioner, said the procedures for Williams' execution were nearly identical to those for Hansen, executed July 17. The only change, he said, was a 5-minute limit on Williams' last words. Hansen made a rambling final statement that lasted almost an hour.

 Williams was one of 16 people initially arrested in Pierce's death, but only Williams, his cousin, Thomas Terrell Evans, and roommate Michael Anthony Norwood were prosecuted.

 Both Evans and Norwood testified against Williams. They spent less than three years in prison on charges of accessory after the fact of murder. Norwood is now deceased.

 Pierce was killed after making a fatal decision not to leave the Scoreboard Lounge with her date after he was threatened by bar patrons. Instead, witnesses at Williams' trials said, Pierce smoked marijuana and ingested hallucinogens and tranquilizers along with whiskey.

 Pierce, they say, got into a fight with a woman at the bar, then was taken to a restroom and raped by several men.

 Law enforcement authorities say Pierce left the bar to go to a party on the Escatawpa River in Jackson County, where she was killed.

 "This is the end of a long journey," said Attorney General Mike Moore, who prosecuted the case as a young district attorney in Jackson County. "This was one of the most brutal crimes I have prosecuted. I prosecuted the case, and I know he is guilty and he knew it."

 Other witnesses to the execution were Jackson County Deputy Sheriff Bryan White; Joey Alford, Pierce's brother-in law; and Tony Fairley, Pierce's half brother .

 Fairley of Lucedale, the only family member to address the news media after the execution, said, "I am missing a piece of my life where my sister was. We just want to put it behind us and move on."