Williams v. State

George Rose Smith, Justice.

The appellant Williams was found guilty of murder in the first degree, having shot and killed Pravin Patel in the perpetration of robbery at the Ritz Motel in Little Rock on November 28, 1980. The jury, finding that Williams was an habitual criminal with four or more previous felony convictions, sentenced him to life imprisonment. The two principal arguments for reversal stem from the trial court’s having permitted the State, in its refutation of Williams’s alibi defense, to prove on rebuttal that Williams had held up another person in the same vicinity a short time…