← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Gabrielle
Thread ID: 20567 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2005-10-08
2005-10-08 14:50 | User Profile
The Paris News [url]http://theparisnews.com[/url]
Copyright é 2005 The Paris News
Delta County man waiting for justice
By Brian Roland The Paris News
Published January 25, 2004
LAKE CREEK — The road to justice is paved with frustration for Jim Williams.
For almost seven years, the Delta County resident has waited for the trial of the man accused of killing his son, Scott. It’s not that the suspect hasn’t been captured; Roy C. Green has been behind bars since April 3, 1997, the day the slaying took place. The problem is that federal prosecutors haven’t brought the case to trial.
Williams thinks he knows why. He sees a tie to terrorism.
Scott Williams was a guard at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, Calif. He served as a strategic operations response team member at the institution better known as “The New Rock.” He died at 5:55 p.m. when he was stabbed with two makeshift knives.
Federal prosecutors believe Green attacked Williams’ son before going after four other officers. Though dying, Williams did everything in his power to save the other guards, his father said.
Green, who is Muslim, was serving a 20-year sentence at Lompoc for a distribution of cocaine conviction, but it was not his first offense. His criminal history is a matter of record. He had previously been indicted for attempted murder, attempted robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and threatening to kill a judge, Jim Williams said.
Williams says his son was just doing his job when he was slain.
“My son put this man in the holding tank for refusing to take a drug test,” he explained.
The attack occurred as Williams was removing Green from the holding tank. The guard’s actions were so heroic that U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno posthumously awarded Williams the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism.
But the award isn’t enough for the guard’s father. He wants justice for his son’s death, and it frustrates him that he doesn’t see it happening.
Controversy surrounds the case because of Green’s involvement with with Mahmud Abouhalima, a central figure in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. Abouhalima is serving 240 years for his role in the bombing.
“There is a Muslim terrorist movement in the federal prison system,” Williams claims. “Scott told me about it before his death, and the people in charge do not want this information to get out.”
Williams grew frustrated about the the lack of progress in the federal case years ago and began seeking answers. He wrote more than 400 letters to U.S. senators and congressman. He even met with Reno. But prosecution of Green moves at a snail’s pace when it moves at all.
“Reno told my family that this case would be handled immediately,” Williams said. “It is seven years later, she’s gone, and the case still hasn’t gone to trial.”
Through the years, Green has dismissed his attorneys with U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall’s approval and has had four attorneys with the Public Defender’s Office of the Federal Judicial Department appointed to defend him. Yet there has been little movement in the case.
“It seems to me like they want the guy to get off,” Williams said. “Why would he need four lawyers, four lawyers of this magnitude, when we only have one?”
Marshall has set a March 5, 2005, trial date. If the case is heard then, it will have been almost eight years since the guard was slain. So much time has passed that Williams has begun to question whether justice for his son’s death will ever be served.
“I cannot believe in the justice system anymore, but I can believe in my attorney,” Williams said. “She thinks that we have a good chance in this trial.”
However, the elder Williams has resigned himself to believing the man he is convinced killed his son will never be executed.
“I don’t think Green will get the death penalty,” he said. “I don’t believe it at all, not in the state of California.”
2005-10-08 23:51 | User Profile
Im betting Green is a negro ? Ive seen several articles in the past that describe the negros trend of conversion to islam in the prison systems. Ill see if i can dig one up.
We played cowboys and injuns once...now there are so many other nice people that want to play too. :smoke: