Mooreville man sentenced to life for capital murder
May 27—TUPELO — The case of a Lee County man who beat to death a 2-year-old girl nearly two decades ago finally came to an end Friday during a 5-minute hearing where William Matthew Wilson was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Wilson, now 41, pleaded guilty to capital murder in the 2005 death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to death in May 2007. The death sentence was thrown out in January 2018 as part of a post-conviction relief appeal, but the guilty plea and conviction were allowed to stand. Efforts to toss the guilty plea and conviction were denied because he waited too long to appeal.
When the state took the death penalty off the table, it simplified the issue and ended years of legal wrangling.
"The only thing we are here for today is sentencing," said Senior Circuit Court Judge Paul Funderburk. "The court is only left with one option, so I must sentence you to life in prison without the opportunity of parole."
After spending more than a decade on death row at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Wilson was transferred to the Lee County Jail in the summer of 2019 a part of the appeal and re-sentencing process. His 22-month stay in Tupelo will be extended a little while as he waits to return to the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
When first questioned about the multiple injuries to Malorie Conlee, Wilson initially said a motorcycle fell on the child. He later admitted to authorities that the toddler would not stop crying on the night of April 28, 2005. He punched the child in the head with his fist three times. Even though the child was unresponsive and "didn't look right," Wilson did not seek medical attention for the child for more than 8 hours. He also admitted placing the child in a tub of scalding water about three months before, burning the child's feet.
