Lewis Williams

Case summary

Lewis Williams was tried in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and found guilty by a jury on one count of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01, with an accompanying specification under R.C. 2929.04(A)(7).

On October 16, 1983, the jury recommended that Williams be sentenced to death. On November 16, 1983, the trial court accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Williams to death. The convictions and sentence were affirmed by the Cuyahoga County Court of Appeals and by the Ohio Supreme Court. Williams was denied certiorari to the United States Supreme Court.

Timeline

• October 7, 1983 — Williams was tried in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and found guilty by a jury on one count of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01, and the accompanying specification under R.C. 2929.04(A)(7).
• October 16, 1983 — The jury recommended that Williams be sentenced to death.
• November 16, 1983 — The trial court accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Williams to death.
• October 25, 1984 — The convictions and sentence were affirmed by the court of appeals.
• 1986 — The convictions and sentence were affirmed by the Ohio Supreme Court (State v. Williams (1986), 23 Ohio St.3d 16, 490 N.E.2d 906).
• April 4, 1986 — Williams filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief.
• June 27, 1986 — Williams filed another pro se petition for post-conviction relief.
• November 20, 1987 — Williams, through counsel, filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
• October 1989 — The trial court denied Williams’s petition.
• 1991 — The denial was affirmed by the court of appeals (State v. Williams (1991), 74 Ohio App.3d 686).
• August 31, 1990 — Williams, through counsel, filed an additional petition for post-conviction relief in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
• June 3, 1991 — The additional petition was denied without hearing.
• July 10, 1992 — Williams filed a sixty-page fifth PCR Petition sub judice on July 10, 1992.
• Dec. 24, 1992 — The court granted the writ of mandamus in part and denied it in part (State of Ohio ex rel. Williams v. Cleveland).
• Apr. 1, 1993 — The denial of Williams’s fourth PCR Petition was affirmed (State v. Williams (Apr. 1, 1993), Cuyahoga App. No. 62066, unreported).
• Mar. 22, 1995 — Reopening of the direct appeal was disallowed (Motion No. 57150).
• 1993 — The Supreme Court denied further review.
• Janury 14, 2004 — Williams was executed by lethal injection in Ohio.

Background

Williams was convicted of aggravated murder with specifications and aggravated robbery connected to the death of Mrs. Leona Chmielewski, a 76-year-old widow.

The case involved aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01. There were two specifications to the charge of aggravated murder. The first specification was that the murder was committed in the perpetration of an aggravated robbery, which constituted the “aggravating circumstance” for which the death penalty was imposed, pursuant to R.C. 2929.03 and 2929.04. The second specification was that the offense was committed with a firearm, carrying a punishment of three years actual incarceration pursuant to R.C. 2929.71.

Aggravated robbery was a violation of R.C. 2911.01.

Williams was also indicted on separate charges of robbery, aggravated burglary and theft. These counts were severed on the motion of the appellant.

The offence

Williams’s aggravated murder conviction and accompanying specifications related to the murder of Leona Chmielewski, a 76-year-old widow.

Investigation

The state adduced the following evidence to demonstrate guilt:

1. Williams’s friends and relatives testified that as they left to go to the hospital they saw Williams alone with the victim, at her home, at about 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. The front door of the victim’s house was open.
2. Between 10:15 and 10:45 the victim’s neighbors heard a sound like a door slamming, coming from the victim’s home.
3. Between 11:30 and 12:30, the victim was found dead, by relatives of Williams, when they returned from the hospital. The victim was face down on the floor near the front door. She had been beaten about the head and neck with a blunt object, and shot through the mouth. Bloodstains were found in her bedroom. Her purse had been overturned in the bedroom, and her wallet was missing. A trial of coins led to the front door, and a trail of empty bank envelopes led down the street to an intersection.
4. The victim had been fearful of strangers, and would not open the door to anyone whom she did not know. She knew and was friendly with the appellant. The other doors and windows of her house were locked.
5. A small imprint of seven parallel lines on the victim’s nightgown matched the pattern on the left heel of Williams’s shoe.
6. A particle of lead, and a small patch of lead residue, were found on the left sleeve of Williams’s jacket. The trace evidence expert from the coroner’s office testified that this finding was consistent with gunshot residue.
7. Two inmates of the county jail testified that Williams admitted to them that he had shot the victim. Williams allegedly told both of them that he had shot her in the mouth. He told one of them that he had rolled over the victim’s body with his shoe, and that he was afraid that the police would find blood on the shoe.
8. Williams presented no evidence in his own behalf at trial. He had admitted to police that he had visited the victim that evening, but denied that he had robbed or killed her. He first stated to police that he had left her home at 8:00 p.m.; later he changed this to 10:00 p.m.

Trial

On October 7, 1983, Williams was tried in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and found guilty by a jury on one count of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2929.04(A)(7).

A jury recommended that Williams be sentenced to death.

The trial court accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced Williams to death, finding that the aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating factors presented by the defense.

The appellant was found guilty of aggravated murder with specifications and aggravated robbery.

Appeals

The convictions and sentence were affirmed by the court of appeals (State v. Williams (October 25, 1984), Cuyahoga App. No. 47853, unreported).

The convictions and sentence were also affirmed by the Ohio Supreme Court (State v.

Williams also filed pro se petitions for post-conviction relief, which were denied. On April 4, 1986 and June 27, 1986, Williams filed pro se petitions for post-conviction relief in which were denied.

On November 20, 1987, Williams, through counsel, filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. In October 1989, the trial court denied Williams petition. That denial was affirmed by this court (State v.

On August 31, 1990, Williams, through counsel, filed an additional petition for post-conviction relief in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. This petition was denied without hearing on June 3, 1991. The judgment was affirmed, with the appeal timely following.

Williams filed a motion to delay reopening his direct appeal. This court of appeals denied the motion (State v. Williams (Nov. 5, 1984), Cuyahoga App. No. 47853, unreported, reopening disallowed (Mar. 22, 1995), Motion No. 57150).

Williams then filed a fourth PCR petition, the denial of which this court affirmed in State v. Williams (Apr. 1, 1993), Cuyahoga App. No. 62066, unreported. The Ohio Supreme Court denied further review (State v. Williams (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 1464).

During the pendency of the fourth PCR petition, Williams filed a public records mandamus action. This court granted the writ of mandamus in part and denied the writ in part (State of Ohio ex rel. Williams v. Cleveland (Dec. 24, 1992), Cuyahoga App. No. 61762, unreported). Williams did not seek further review of this court’s disposition of his mandamus action.

Williams filed a sixty-page fifth PCR petition sub judice on July 10, 1992. The appeal described that the case was remanded to the trial court for execution of sentence.

Williams’s request for review was pending in the Ohio Supreme Court as of the date of the opinion.

Outcome

The trial court denied Williams’s petition for post-conviction relief, and the judgment was affirmed.

The convictions and sentence were affirmed through appellate review, and the case was remanded to the trial court for execution of sentence.

Aftermath

The body of 76-year-old Leoma Chmielewski was discovered lying face down on the floor of her home.

Williams was executed by lethal injection in Ohio on Janury 14, 2004.