Wilson Denies Killer’s Plea for Clemency

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday denied clemency for Keith Daniel Williams, who is scheduled to be executed next week for murdering three Merced County residents in 1978.

Williams, 48, was convicted of the execution-style slayings of two cousins and the murder of the cousins’ female friend.

“For certain crimes, justice demands the ultimate punishment. Williams’ premeditated and brutal murders of these three individuals are such crimes,” Wilson said. “The time for excuses is over.”

Prosecutors said Williams shot Miguel and Salvador Vargas while breaking into their home to steal a $1,500 check he had written from a stolen checkbook.

Williams then had sex with their friend, Lourdes Meza, in the back of a car. He shot Meza and left her naked body in a field. He was acquitted of raping Meza.

Williams’ execution by lethal injection is scheduled for May 3 at San Quentin prison.

According to Williams’ attorney and a summary of the crimes by the state attorney general’s office, Williams bragged to his partner that he was having sex with Meza at the moment he shot her.

San Francisco attorney Richard Mazer, Williams’ lawyer, said his client suffers from mental illness, which contributed to the crime.

In an appeal filed this week in federal court in Fresno, Williams’ lawyers say nearly 600 pages of records contain evidence that probably would have persuaded jurors to convict Williams of lesser charges.

The documents include medical records that prove his claims of mental illness at the time of the crimes, the defense lawyers contend. The records were filed when Williams was an inmate in federal prison from 1977 until May 1978, five months before the killings.