Ex Parte Williams

A jury convicted Ted Williams of attempted murder and of robbery in the first degree, based on evidence that he had slashed a woman's throat and had stolen her purse. Williams was sentenced to a term of 25 years in the state penitentiary on the attempted murder conviction and 20 years on the robbery conviction. Williams appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed his convictions with an unpublished memorandum, 586 So.2d 310. This Court granted Williams's petition for the writ of certiorari to examine the issue whether the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to allow…