PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia judge halted next week's scheduled execution of a teen killer after finding the trial prosecutor suppressed evidence the victim was molesting boys, "sanitized" witness statements before giving them to the defense and lied about a secret deal she'd struck with the accomplice.
The judge also tossed out Terrance "Terry" Williams' death sentence, granting him a new sentencing hearing. She upheld his first-degree murder conviction.
Williams has been on death row for 28 years and was set to be executed Wednesday. He would have been the first person executed in Pennsylvania in 50 years who had not given up his appeals.
Williams, now 46, could still face the death chamber if the state Supreme Court overturns Friday's ruling. Prosecutors were filing an appeal late Friday.
Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina accused trial prosecutor Andrea Gelman Foulkes of "gamesmanship" in order to win the 1986 death-penalty case.
"She did at times play games and take unfair measures to win," Sarmina said Friday, reading her lengthy opinion aloud.
Terry Williams was not in court, but his aunt, daughter and other supporters broke into applause.
Given new evidence unearthed only this past week from police homicide files and Foulkes' own notes, Sarmina said the jury might have spared Williams if they knew more about victim Amos Norwood and his alleged penchant for teen boys.
Accomplice Marc Draper, a childhood friend, recanted his trial testimony this year as Williams' execution loomed. That led to what the judge called the "extraordinary" late-stage evidence hearing this past week, when Sarmina called Draper and Foulkes to the witness stand.
Foulkes acknowledged that she had suspected a sexual relationship between the 56-year-old Norwood and 18-year-old Williams. However, police statements from Norwood's wife and pastor about prior fondling complaints and odd interactions with teenage boys never reached the defense lawyer or jurors.
