WASHINGTON, 25 FEB - Lo Stato della Georgia ha oggi commutato la PENA DI MORTE in ergastolo per Alexander Williams,uno schizofrenico che uccise nel 1986 quand'era minorenne e il cui caso aveva attirato l'attenzione dei media internazionali.   Il 20 febbraio scorso, alla vigilia dell'appuntamento di Williams con il boia, le autorita' dello Stato avevano sospeso l'esecuzione. La sospensione sarebbe dovuta scadere questa notte.

   Le autorita' hanno preso la decisione dopo aver sentito tre psichiatri sul caso Williams, uno psicopatico convinto che l' attrice Sigourney Weaver sia Dio, che aveva stuprato e ucciso una 16enne nel 1986, quando aveva 17 anni.       

   Nel braccio della morte il condannato, che adesso ha 33 anni,e' sottoposto a una terapia forzata di psicofarmaci: le autorita' carcerarie lo mantenevano 'artificialmente' in

condizioni di relativa sanita' mentale allo scopo di poterlo giustiziare.  

February 25, 2002

Georgia Spares Life of Condemned Mentally Ill Man

By REUTERS

ATLANTA  - Georgia's parole board on Monday commuted the death sentence of a mentally ill man whose scheduled execution for killing a teen-age girl raised questions about executing youthful offenders and the insane.

 Alexander Williams, 33, had been set to die at midnight for the crime he committed when he was 17. But the board halted the execution just hours before it was set to take place after hearing from psychiatrists who assessed his mental condition.

 ``The board decided to commute Williams' death sentence to life without the possibility of parole,'' said Stephanie McConnell, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

 Williams suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has to be forcibly medicated by prison guards. His delusions include a belief that actress Sigourney Weaver is God and that he is under attack by demons.

 The board on Monday heard a report from an independent team of psychiatrists who examined Williams to determine whether he had slipped so far into insanity that he would have to be forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to be executed.

 The psychiatrists' findings were not publicly disclosed.

 The U.S. Supreme Court has said the insane cannot be put to death, but has not ruled on whether it is legal to medicate them to make them sane enough to face execution.

 Williams' lawyers have argued that doing so would violate the U.S. constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

 Williams originally was scheduled to die by lethal injection last week, but the parole board issued a stay, saying it needed more time to assess his mental condition.

 Death penalty opponents had urged Georgia to spare Williams because of his age at the time of the killing and his mental illness. 

The case drew requests for clemency from the European Union and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, and pleas for mercy from Rosalynn Carter, wife of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

 Williams was convicted of abducting part-time model Aleta Bunch, 16, from a mall in Augusta, Georgia, then raping and shooting her in the head four times on March 4, 1986.

 ``We have the deepest sympathy for the family of Aleta Bunch,'' said parole board Chairman Walter Ray. ``By making sure that Williams will remain in an 8-foot by 10-foot prison cell for the rest of his life with absolutely no hope for parole, we hope that the certainty of our decision will give Mrs. Bunch (the victim's mother) the closure she so deserves.''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

GEORGIA: Williams death sentence commuted to life in prison

 Saying he had slipped too far into madness to be executed, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles Monday spared the life of convicted psychotic killer Alexander Williams.

 It is only the 7th time that the board has voted to commute a death sentence to life and the 1st granted because of mental illness.

 The board decided to commute Williams' death sentence to life without parole - even though that sentencing option was not available in 1986 when he murdered a teenage girl.

 Williams, 33, was set to die by lethal injection last Wednesday for kidnapping 16-year-old Aleta Carol Bunch from an Augusta mall, raping her and shooting her in the head 4 times. But the board had stayed his execution until midnight Monday because members wanted more time to consider his case.

 It was only the 3rd time the board had stopped a scheduled execution; once they ultimately commuted the inmate's death sentence to life and the other time the board eventually declined to stop.

 The board sent 3 Grady Memorial Hospital psychiatrists to evaluate Williams last Thursday and they made an oral report to the board Monday morning. Based on the psychiatrists' findings, the board voted to commute Williams because of his mental illness.