The family of a teenager executed by Pennsylvania in 1931 has filed a lawsuit seeking damages nearly 100 years after his death.
On Monday, lawyers for Alexander McClay Williams’ family announced the lawsuit over his execution. Williams was executed at 16 after being convicted of murder, but his conviction was vacated in 2022, and a new trial was ordered. However, he did not retire, and his record was cleared in 2017.
Williams’ family has always maintained his innocence. In 2022, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer dismissed the charges, stating that Williams should never have been charged. “Sadly, we cannot undo the past. We cannot rewrite history to erase the egregious wrongs of our forebearers,” Stollsteimer said then. “However, when, as here, justice can be served by publicly acknowledging such a wrong, we must seize that opportunity.”
The family is now suing the state and Delaware County, citing Williams’ wrongful conviction and execution. They are seeking unspecified punitive damages.
Williams, who was Black, was convicted of murdering Vida Robare, a 34-year-old white house matron at the Glen Mills School for Boys. She was found dead on October 3, 1930, with 47 stab wounds. Her ex-husband, Fred Robare, who also worked at the school, discovered her body.
Williams was arrested and charged, but there were no witnesses or evidence placing him at the crime scene. prosecutors relied on confessions that were coerced out of the 16-year-old Williams.
The lawsuit notes that, in working to convict Williams, prosecutors ignored other evidence — including that Robare had filed for divorce from her husband, Fred, citing “extreme cruelty” as the reason.
Her husband was the first to find her body on the day she was murdered.
Williams was executed in June. 8, 1931.
Attorneys for Williams’ family said in a statement that Sam Lemon, the great-grandson of Williams’ criminal trial attorney, William H. Ridley, uncovered information showing that evidence against Williams was fabricated.
In 2022, after hearing the new evidence presented, the Court of Common Pleas for Delaware County vacated the conviction and ordered a new trial.
Then, Stollsteimer dismissed the case, the attorneys noted in a statement.
SOURCE: nbcnews.com
