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| Exonerated Ill. Death Row Inmate Dies |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/31/2003 |
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Dennis Williams, a former death row inmate who was one of four men whose exoneration became a rallying point for death penalty opponents in Illinois, has died at the age of 46. Williams spent 18 years in prison for the 1978 deaths of a couple before a Northwestern University professor and his class helped win their release in 1996 after learning a state witness had lied. Then-Gov. George Ryan mentioned their case when he commuted the sentences of every inmate on death row this January. Williams died March 20 at his home. A ruling on the cause of death was pending. The four men were in their 20s when they were wrongfully convicted of the gang rape and double murder of Carol Schmal and Lawrence Lionberg. Williams and one of the men went to death row; the other two were sentenced to life in prison. Three others were later convicted of killing the couple. The four men won a $36 million settlement from Cook County in 1999 after they filed suit claiming the sheriff's officers who investigated the 1978 killing were racists who hid evidence that would have helped the defense while ignoring leads pointing to the real killers. 'No amount of money can be satisfactory for what has been done to us,' Williams said at the time. 'If someone asked me 18 years ago, `Can I buy your life for $100 million or can I borrow your life for $100 million for 18 years?' I would have said hell, no.' |
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