Robert Wayne Williams (February 6, 1952 – December 14, 1983) was an American murderer convicted of the January 1979 murder of Willie Kelly, a 67-year-old security guard. He was executed in 1983 by the state of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

electric chair The electric chair is a specialized device used for capital punishment through electrocution. The condemned is strapped to a custom wooden chair and electrocuted via electrodes attached to the head and leg. Alfred P. Southwick, a Buffalo, New Yo ...

. He became the first person to be executed in Louisiana since 1976 when the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

was reinstated.

Murder

On January 5, 1979, Williams and his accomplice, Ralph Holmes, entered the A & P Supermarket located at 3525 Perkins Road in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. Both men placed ski masks over their faces and Williams pulled out a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun. They then approached the security guard, 67-year-old Willie Kelly, who was bagging groceries. Holmes tried to remove Kelly's pistol from his holster. As Kelly made a move with his hand toward his pistol, Williams yelled, "Don't try it", and immediately shot Kelly in the face at point-blank range. Williams and Holmes then proceeded to complete the robbery. During this process, Holmes pistol-whipped one of the customers, and Williams accidentally shot two people in their feet. The police received a telephone call from an informant implicating Holmes, Williams, and Williams' wife. Following their arrest, both Williams and his wife gave confessions, implicating themselves in the crime.

Trial

Williams was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death by District Judge Frank Foil on May 30, 1979. The jury recommended that Holmes receive a life term for his role in the crime. Williams consistently maintained that the gun had gone off accidentally and that he had not intended to shoot Kelly. However, he did not testify at his own trial. Police Chief Howard Kidder later criticized the private security firm for failing to train their security guards properly. He claimed Kelly would not have been killed if he had been trained properly and had been equipped with the correct weapon. Kelly had received no training at all for the security guard position.

Execution

On December 14, 1983, Williams was executed in the

at the

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

. He was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. and declined a

last meal A condemned prisoner's last meal is a customary ritual preceding execution. In many countries, the prisoner may, within reason, select what the last meal will be. Contemporary restrictions in the United States Contrary to the common belief t ...

. Williams was the first person to be executed in Louisiana in over twenty-two years, since 1961. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, Williams was the first person to be executed in Louisiana, and the tenth in the United States. He was also the second black person to be executed in the United States since 1976, as well as the first person to be executed for killing a black victim.

References

! colspan="3" , Executions carried out in Louisiana , - ! colspan="3" , Executions carried out in the United States {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Robert Wayne 1952 births 1983 deaths 20th-century executions by Louisiana 20th-century executions of American people American people executed for murder Executed African-American people Executed people from Louisiana People convicted of murder by Louisiana People executed by Louisiana by electric chair

Murder

Trial

Execution

See also

References