Killer isn’t retarded, Trumbull judge rules

An appeals court had found a procedural error in the judge’s earlier ruling.

WARREN — A Trumbull County judge has once again ruled against the request of 39-year-old death row inmate Andre Williams, who asked to be deemed ineligible for the death penalty on grounds that he is retarded.

Williams was convicted in 1989 of killing George Melnick, 65, and severely beating Melnick's wife, Katherine, 65, in Warren.

Judge W. Wyatt McKay of common pleas court ruled Tuesday that none of the evidence he received since the August 1988 crime or after the landmark federal ruling in 2002 banning the execution of mentally retarded defendants indicates that Williams should be spared execution.

The 11th District Court of Appeals in Warren ordered judge McKay to reconsider his 2004 ruling, in which he denied Williams’ request to be spared the death penalty the first time.

The appeals court said Judge McKay had confused a distinction between dismissing Williams’ request and granting summary judgment in the state’s favor. LuWayne Annos, an assistant county prosecutor, called it a procedural error. Judge McKay also impermissibly weighed conflicting evidence and made a number of findings of fact, the appeals court stated.

Background

In 2002, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it is unconstitutional to execute people who are mentally retarded, Williams filed a petition in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court stating that his death sentence should be vacated on those grounds. It is that petition, sometimes called an Atkins claim, that Williams appealed.

In Tuesday’s ruling, Judge McKay granted summary judgment to the state, which means he ruled in favor of the state and against Williams without needing to conduct a hearing.

Attached to Williams’ petition was an affidavit from his cousin, Stacey Vail, which said Williams was “severely challenged” mentally and could not cope on a day-to-day basis as a child.

But Judge McKay cited four intelligence tests showing his IQ score to be between 67 and 78, as well as many exhibits showing Williams’ writings in prison. These factors and others suggest he is not retarded, Judge McKay wrote. The state generally considers IQ tests of below 70 to indicate mental retardation.

runyan@vindy.com