Janelle Irwin Taylor
An effort to compensate a man who spent 43 years in prison for a crime he did not commit cleared its final Senate committee Thursday.
The measure (SB 28) by Sen. Audrey Gibson would pay Clifford Williams $2.15 million.
Williams had been on death row before his exoneration.
“This bill is about innocence,” Gibson said. “It’s about a man who was not a saint, but that is not a murderer either.”
She said the payout was one “small step we can take to help him put his life back together after 43 years of disruption for something he did not do.”
Williams was charged in the ’70s with murdering Jeannette Williams, no relation, in Jacksonville after Ms. Williams’ domestic partner, Nina Marshall, accused him and another wrongfully convicted man as her killer.
Prosecutors tried the case on circumstantial evidence claiming the then 33-year-old Williams was Marshall’s heroin dealer and shot Ms. Williams over back rent. There was no forensic evidence to display, merely hearsay testimony from a witness in an era that lacked justice for African American individuals.
Williams appealed twice, to no avail. It wasn’t until his co-defendant, Hubert “Nate” Myers, approached Jacksonville’s newly formed Conviction Integrity Unit that the two were exonerated.
Committee Chair Rob Bradley, the bill’s co-sponsor, cautioned members, none of whom had much to offer on the bill, to speak now or forever hold their peace, noting that he doesn’t want to hear months from now that Williams should not have gotten compensation.
Williams has thus far been unable to obtain compensation from the state for his wrongful incarceration because state law prohibits people with previous convictions from seeking relief.
Williams’ case is breezing through the Legislature perhaps thanks to Williams’ high-profile representation, Holland and Knight, which is representing him pro bono.
The House version of the bill (HB 6507) has one committee stop remaining before heading to the floor for a vote.
