RELEASE OF FLORIDA’S 29TH EXONERATED DEATH ROW SURVIVOR REVEALS FATAL FLAWS IN DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 29, 2019
CONTACT: Mark Elliott, FADP Director, (727) 215-9646, mark@fadp.org
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – Clifford Williams has become Florida’s 29th exonerated death row survivor. The Death Penalty Information Center confirmed that he is the 29th former Florida Death Row inmate exonerated since 1973. He will join their “Innocence List” as number 165 nationally.
Williams was originally sentenced to Death in 1976 by a judge who overrode the jury’s recommendation for Life. Co-defendant, Nathan Myers, received Life. Four years later, the Florida Supreme Court overturned William’s Death Sentence and he was re-sentenced to Life. Now, 43 years after their wrongful conviction, Clifford Williams and Nathan Myers have been exonerated and released. Read more here.
Responding to the freeing of Williams and Myers, Mark Elliott, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty stated:
“Kudos to 4th Circuit (Jacksonville) State Attorney Melissa Nelson whose newly-formed Conviction Integrity Review unit initiated the new investigation and resulting release.” Hillsborough and Orange/Osceola Counties have set up similar units. The Innocence Project of Florida represented Williams and co-defendant Nathan Myers in the process.
“No one knows how many innocent people are on Florida’s Death Row and no one will ever know how many have been executed.”
“If the exoneration of one innocent person found on death row is extremely troubling, then twenty-nine innocent people released from Florida’s Death Row is a crash alarm siren for the catastrophic failure of our state government program.”
“It took 43 years for Williams and Myers to be exonerated. That should be a ‘reality-check’ for those who say we should execute more people faster.”
“It’s time to pull the plug on this wasteful, mistake-ridden, and unnecessary big government program that puts blood on all our hands.”
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Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) is a non-profit and non-partisan Florida organization of individuals and groups united to abolish the Death Penalty in Florida
Sent by:
Mark Elliott
Executive Director
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
www.fadp.org