The Defense Calls Witnesses for Atlanta Child Murder Suspect Wayne Williams' Trial (Feb 15, 1982)

Voiceover: An overview of the trial of suspected child murderer Wayne Williams; interview with witness Kent Hinsman (?). Footage: Courtroom sketches of Williams, various people testifying, including Carla Bailey, and the jury. Williams was arrested on June 21, 1981, for the murders of Cater and Payne.[10] His trial began on January 6, 1982, in Fulton County. During the two-month trial, prosecutors matched to a number of victims 19 sources of fibers from Williams's home and car: his bedspread, bathroom, gloves, clothes, carpets, dog, and an unusual trilobal carpet fiber. Other evidence included witness testimony that placed Williams with several victims while they were alive, and inconsistencies in his accounts of his whereabouts.[11] Williams took the stand in his own defense but alienated the jury by becoming angry and combative.[11] After 12 hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty on February 27 of the murders of Cater and Payne. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.[12] After Williams became a suspect, the killings stopped.[2] In the late 1990s, Williams filed a habeas corpus petition and requested a retrial. Butts County Superior Court judge Hal Craig denied his appeal. Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said that "although this does not end the appeal process, I am pleased with the results in the habeas case" and that his office will "continue to do everything possible to uphold the conviction."[13] In early 2004, Williams sought a retrial again, with his attorneys arguing that law enforcement officials covered up evidence of involvement by the Ku Klux Klan, and that carpet fibers purportedly linking him to the crimes would not stand up to scientific scrutiny.[14] A federal judge rejected the request for retrial on October 17, 2006.