ABA Juvenile Justice Center

Action Alert, 13/02/02

Prominent Organizations Oppose Execution of Mentally Ill Juvenile Offender in Georgia

     Alexander E. Williams, a juvenile offender who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, is scheduled for execution in Georgia on February 20.  The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has received pleas for clemency for Williams from  organizations and individuals such as the American Bar Association, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, the European Union, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and the National Mental Health Association. 

     Williams's trial lawyer failed to present available mitigating evidence to the sentencing jury, including the fact that Williams suffers from severe mental illness, and that his childhood was plagued with chronic physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Five of the eight living jurors from his original trial have signed affidavits stating that they would not have sentenced Williams to death if they had known about his history of abuse and mental illness.