Frank Williams

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Charge:	First Degree Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment without possibility of parole
Years Imprisoned:	12
Year Crime:	2004
Year Convicted:	2012
Year Cleared:	2016
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	California
County or Region of Crime:	Los Angeles
City of Crime:	Los Angeles
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Frank Williams was wrongly convicted twice -- first in September 2008 and again on April 19, 2012 -- of first-degree murder and other charges related to the shooting death of 17-year-old Shulma Ramos and her 16-year-old brother Jason Ramos in South Los Angeles,California on Jan. 31, 2004. The Ramos were with a group of 12 friends looking for a party when they were confronted by a lone man who attempted to rob them at gunpoint. Shots were fired at the car that the Ramos' got in to flee the scene, with Jason shot in the back of his head and Shulma shot in her back, and two of their friends suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds. Williams was prosecuted based on his identification by a single eyewitness who at his preliminary hearing testified he looked "similar" to a man near the scene of the altercation who was asked where the party was, but the witnesses' testimony changed during his trials to more positively identify Williams. However, no one identified him as being involved in the attempted robbery or having a gun. A mistrial was declared in Williams' first trial in March 2007 after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. The California 2nd District Court of Appeal overturned Williams' first conviction in November 2010 and ordered a new trial, based on the trial judge's error of allowing the prosecution to use evidence discovered late in the trial that a defense alibi witness was arrested while in possession of one of two guns that was used in the killings. After his 2012 conviction by a jury Williams was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In September 2014 the appeals court overturned his second conviction, stating: “Defendant contends reversal is required because a gang expert spontaneously interjected into his testimony an assertion that defendant had participated in, and gotten away with, an unrelated violent bank robbery in which an accomplice was killed. We agree because the testimony was extremely inflammatory, the evidence in the case was very closely balanced, and the court’s subsequent direction to disregard the evidence was insufficient to cure the resulting prejudice.” On January 22, 2016 a jury that had deliberated for about two weeks, acquitted Frank Williams after his fourth trial. Williams' codefendant in his first trial in 2007, was positively identified Leon McDonald Brown, was convicted by the jury of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brown's conviction was affirmed on appeal in 2009, and the California Supreme Court declined to review his case."
Conviction Caused By:
Innocence Proved By:	"On January 22, 2016 a jury that had deliberated for about two weeks, acquitted Frank Williams after his fourth trial."
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Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	20
Age When Released:	32
Sex:	Male
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Information Source 1:	"Man acquitted in fourth trial for deaths of 2 teens, By Hoa Quach, Mynewsla.com, January 22, 2016"
Information Location 1:	http://mynewsla.com/crime/2016/01/22/man-acquitted-in-fourth-trial-for-deaths-of-2-teens/
Information Source 2:	"The People v. Frank Williams, No. B248541 (Calif. Ct. of Appeals, 2nd Appellate Dist., 9-5-2014) (Reversing conviction and ordering retrial based on inadmissible expert gang evidence.)"
Information Location 2:	http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B248541.PDF
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Frank Williams

Charge:

First Degree Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment without possibility of parole

Years Imprisoned:

12

Year Crime:

2004

Year Convicted:

2012

Year Cleared:

2016

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

California

County or Region of Crime:

Los Angeles

City of Crime:

Los Angeles

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On January 22, 2016 a jury that had deliberated for about two weeks, acquitted Frank Williams after his fourth trial."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

20

Age When Released:

32

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Information Source 1:

"Man acquitted in fourth trial for deaths of 2 teens, By Hoa Quach, Mynewsla.com, January 22, 2016"

Information Location 1:

http://mynewsla.com/crime/2016/01/22/man-acquitted-in-fourth-trial-for-deaths-of-2-teens/

Information Source 2:

"The People v. Frank Williams, No. B248541 (Calif. Ct. of Appeals, 2nd Appellate Dist., 9-5-2014) (Reversing conviction and ordering retrial based on inadmissible expert gang evidence.)"

Information Location 2:

http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B248541.PDF

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