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Houston cop killer executed
He goes to this death
ridiculing police
By Allan Turner - Chron.com
May 15, 2013
HUNTSVILLE — Houston cop killer Jeffrey Williams went to his
death in the state's death chamber Wednesday with a bitter
denunciation of police, calling them "clowns" and accusing them of
wantonly killing "innocent kids."
"When I kill one or pop one, ya'll want to kill me," he said.
Minutes later, Williams, 37, lay dead on the chamber's steel
gurney after authorities administered a massive dose of
pentobarbital, a short-acting drug used to euthanize animals.
The lethal dose was administered at 6:10 p.m. Williams was
declared dead at 6:36 p.m.
Later, Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers
Union, responded with venom.
"The fact that to the end he continued to ridicule police
officers shows what a thug he was," Hunt said outside the chamber.
"I have no sympathy for him. I have sympathy for his family, but
not for him."
Williams was executed for the May 19, 1999, murder of Houston
policeman Troy Blando, 39. Blando, working an undercover auto
theft shift at a southwest side motel, was fatally shot as he
attempted to handcuff Williams. Williams had driven into the
motel's parking lot in a stolen Lexus.
The killer was arrested a short time later, handcuffs dangling
from one wrist. Williams said he believed Blando was a robber, and
that he shot the officer in self-defense.
Hunt, surrounded by officers who traveled to Huntsville for the
execution, described Blanco as an exemplary officer and husband
who "always had a smile on his face."
"It is tragic someone would end a life like this with a single
shot," he said.
Williams' final statement, in which he accused police of
"getting away with murder all the time," was delivered to a
witness room filled with law enforcement and state officials.
Neither family nor friends of Williams or of his victims were
present.
'God has a plan'
"God has a plan for everything," Williams said. "You hear. I
love everyone that loves me. I ain't got no love for anyone that
don't love me."
The killer's attorney argued that lawyers who previously
represented Williams had been ineffective. An appeals attorney, he
charged, had "cut and pasted" his petition, then filed it three
days after the deadline.
Virginia attorney Jonathan Sheldon argued that courts should
revisit Williams' claim of ineffective counsel under a recent high
court ruling that provides a vehicle for such reviews.
Sheldon contended that Williams' first attorney failed to call
witnesses in the punishment phase who would have testified that
the killer - although not mentally disabled - was unable to
function in society.
Williams, the petition said, was unable to hold jobs or to
perform such basic tasks as cooking food.
Williams was the sixth killer and the first Harris County
killer executed in Texas this year.
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