Merry Christmas, Robert Williams. We're going to kill you. Notwithstanding your 17-year old daughter's plea at your sentencing at we spare your life.
Not that you should be particularly surprised, Mr. Williams. One of the dangers I learned from reading this opinion is that when you knock off banks, although the police might not know who you are, others in your neighborhood might. Which in turn occasionally leads to entrepreneurs like Mr. Williams coming up to you and saying: "I know you niggers out there getting licks and I want my share of the money." "Licks," I now know, meaning "robberies."
Which in turn leads Gary and Scott to hit a credit union. In part to get money for themselves and in part to get money to pay Mr. Williams. Apparently it's not just organized crime that effectively encourages crime.
Scott, unfortunately, was captured by the police during a high-speed chase after the robbery. Whereas Gary fled in a different car and escaped.
Ironically, Scott was the lucky one.
Mr. Williams and two of his confederates subsequently show up at Gary's house. After returning from dinner, Gary's there with his girlfriend, and Gary's father -- Roscoe -- temporarily leaves for the store. Williams and his buddies display guns. They're wearing gloves but no masks.
Uh-oh. When you're wearing gloves but no masks, that means you don't want to leave any evidence. But you're not worried about witnesses. Which is definitely bad news for the witnesses.
Defendants grab up all the available jewelry and money. They tie up the girlfriend and threaten to rape and kill her if the occupants don't tell them the location of additional money they suspect is in the house. Gary's father returns to the house, and defendant tells his confederate to "snatch his ass in the house," which the confederate does. Gary reveals the location of additional money in a cologne bag in the bathroom, but Mr. Williams is unsatisfied, saying: "“That ain’t all the money . . . . Gary just hit two banks back to back.”
It's not a good sign when the person robbing you knows the details of your robberies.
Williams sexually assaults the girlfriend in a bathroom. He then tells his confederate -- chillingly -- to "Do his old man in front of him." Referring to Gary's father.
I shan't describe what transpires next. Suffice it to say it involves a brown trash bag placed over a head and various knives sliced across throats.
By a miraculous series of events, the girlfriend survives. Having jumped naked from the waist down out a window, already covered in blood (with additional amounts gurgling out her throat).
Ugly. That the jury votes for the death penalty is not a surprise.
Riverside (Moreno Valley). 1995. The scene of some pretty dark stuff.
