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| La. Governor Recommends Parole Eligibility for Dying Inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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A dying man serving a life sentence for a 1969 robbery and murder should be eligible for parole and able to die at home, Gov. Mike Foster decided July 29. Foster recommended Willie Lee Williams for parole eligibility. Williams will have to go before the state's Parole Board, which will decide whether to release him to live with family members in Mississippi. Williams is terminally ill with cancer and is confined to a wheelchair. 'In this particular case, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to keep him locked up and make the state pay for his medical care. He's got family who can take care of him. He's clearly not a danger to society,' said Patrick Martin, a lawyer for the governor. Williams has served 33 years of a life sentence for the 1969 murder of a store owner in New Orleans. Now 77, Williams is housed at Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson. Williams and his half brother, William Henry Hankins, pleaded guilty in 1970 to first-degree murder for the February 1969 slaying of grocery store owner Bernard F. Robin in New Orleans. Hankins admitted to shooting Robin while Williams admitted to taking part in the robbery. The state Pardon Board, by a 5-0 vote in June, recommended that Williams be made immediately eligible for parole, a recommendation Foster had to approve before the Parole Board can consider Williams' case. |
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