Federal ruling leaves open possibility Warren murderer could escape death penalty

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court in Cincinnati has ruled that one of two Warren- based courts must reassess its conclusions that Warren murderer Andre Williams isn’t intellectually disabled enough to escape the death penalty.

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the matter, hasn’t decided whether to appeal, it told The Vindicator on Thursday.

If the attorney general’s office doesn’t appeal, the 6th Circuit’s ruling would require a lower federal court in Cleveland to issue a further ruling to advise either the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals or Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to reassess its rulings on Williams’ intellectual abilities.

A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said it’s unclear which of the two courts would be ordered to re-assess its ruling.

Ultimately, it could result in Williams’ being removed from death row, according to The Associated Press.

The error pertains to the 11th District court’s indicating that Williams and his attorneys didn’t offer evidence to suggest that Williams is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty, the 6th Circuit said.

Both courts acknowledge that Williams and his attorneys provided evidence indicating that Williams had an IQ score of 67 at age 15, which is lower than the cutoff of 70 that courts sometimes use as an indication of possible intellectual disability.

The 6th Circuit said the 11th District court should have considered that evidence.

Williams, 48, was sentenced to death for killing George Melnick and participating in an assault of Melnick’s wife, Katherine, in 1988 at the Melnicks’ house on Wick Street Southeast. Williams was 21 at the time of the murder.

Christopher W. Daniel, 46, the other man involved in the attacks, was sentenced to 37 to 100 years in prison for his role and is under consideration for parole.

The 6th Circuit said the 11th District court’s ruling said the important factor in deciding intellectual disability is the person’s “present functioning” and didn’t give any weight to his mental capacity at age 15.

That position “was contrary to clearly established federal law,” the 6th Circuit said. The 6th Circuit said the 11th District “rejected outright any pre-1989 evidence from its analysis of Williams’ intellectual functioning and adaptive skills.”

LuWayne Annos, assistant county prosecutor, said Judge W. Wyatt McKay, common pleas court judge, did consider the IQ score of 67 in his ruling regarding Williams’ intellectual ability. She would not offer an opinion on what court would get the case if it’s not appealed.