A Black Teen Was Wrongly Executed Nearly 100 Years Ago. His Family is Still Seeking Justice.
In 1931, 16-year-old Alexander McClay Williams was sentenced to death in Pennsylvania for the 1930 murder of his teacher. He was executed six months after his convictions. The victim, judge, and jury in his case were all white.
In October 2022, 91 years after he was executed, Williams was posthumously exonerated after his family and their legal representatives were able to prove that he was never responsible for his teacher’s murder and that his case was an example of racial profiling. All the charges against him were dismissed.
According to ABC 6, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Williams was ”browbeaten” into giving a confession and was executed before being given the chance to appeal.
On Monday, the Williams family took another step to ensure that justice is served by filing a lawsuit against Delaware County and the estates of the detectives and prosecutors involved in the case, according to NBC News.
The family is claiming that their conduct was “outrageous, malicious, wanton, willful, reckless and intentionally designed to inflict harm.”
More from NBC News:
Willams — who was Black — was convicted after 34-year-old Vida Robare — who was white and was a house matron at the Glen Mills School for Boys — was found murdered inside her cottage on the school grounds on October 3, 1930. Her body was discovered by her ex-husband Fred Robare, who was also an employee at the school.
Williams was arrested and charged with stabbing Robare 47 times.
However, there were no witnesses to the crime and Williams was never seen at the scene. Instead, prosecutors relied on confessions that were coerced out of the 16-year-old Williams.
The Williams family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages along with a statement that the practices of the prosecution and detectives was “unconstitutional.”
