Ex Parte Williams

The defendant, Herbert Williams, Jr., was convicted of capital murder in regard to the 1988 death of Timothy Hasser and was sentenced to death by electrocution. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed, Williams v. State, 627 So.2d 985 (Ala.Cr.App. 1991). This Court granted certiorari review. Rule 39, Ala.R.App.P.

The facts of this case, as set out by the Court of Criminal Appeals, are, for the reader's convenience, repeated below:

"The state's evidence tended to show the following: On November 2, 1988, the body of the victim, Timothy Hasser, was found in the back of his 1980 Porsche automobile.…