William Kuenzel was sentenced to death by the State of Alabama for the murder of a store clerk during a robbery. According to court documents William Kuenzel woud enter a convenience store and in the process of robbing it would shoot and kill the store clerk Linda Offord. William Kuenzel would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death. William Kuenzel has maintained his innocence since being sent to death row in Alabama in 1988
William Kuenzel would die from cancer on Alabama death row still maintaining his innocence
William Kuenzel 2021 Information
| Inmate: | KUENZEL, WILLIAM ERNEST |
| AIS: | 0000Z489 |
| Institution: | HOLMAN PRISON |
William Kuenzel More News
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a death row inmate in Alabama who said evidence withheld by prosecutors entitled him to a new court hearing.
The justices did not comment Monday in turning away the appeal from Bill Kuenzel, convicted of killing a convenience store clerk in 1987.
Kuenzel’s case had gotten a boost from former Attorney General Edwin Meese, who said Kuenzel is “very likely actually innocent.”
He also has gotten support from actors and former prosecutors around the nation.
Kuenzel’s lawyers said that the evidence would have raised doubts about the truthfulness of plea deal testimony from a roommate who said Kuenzel committed the killing.
State courts had earlier refused Kuenzel’s pleas for a new hearing.
Kuenzel’s attorneys issued a statement after the SCOTUS ruling today.
“We’re obviously disappointed that the Court didn’t review the case of an innocent man facing death, given that the key evidence has never once been substantively reviewed by any court and only because some paperwork supposedly missed a filing deadline in the 1990’s,” according to the statement. “This case represents the most extreme example of government overreach, literally seeking to wrongfully take a citizen’s life without fair process.
“And for the people of Alabama, executing Bill means that Linda Offord’s real murderer will continue walking the streets – endangering every man, woman and child. The good news is that, while the window has narrowed, there are still those who are empowered to effect justice,” according to the statement.
The statement also urges the Alabama Legislature to enact legislation to create an Innocence Commission. The State Senate passed legislation earlier this year modeled off of a North Carolina bill, the statement notes.
The statement also called upon Kuenzel’s confessed accomplice, Harvey Venn, to come forward “and admit that he lied to save his own life.”
It also challenged the man who prosecuted the case should acknowledge his constitutional error and witnesses could come forward and share their stories. “Because if an innocent man is killed and those individuals don’t speak out, then it will rest on their conscience forever. And that is a sin approaching the one committed 29 years ago almost to the date,” according to the statement.
https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2016/10/us_supreme_court_rejects_appea.html