Nebraska prosecutors to pursue death penalty in only one of two grisly small-town killings
OMAHA, Neb.– Nebraska prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty for the December murder of a Catholic priest in his home, but will go ahead with the execution for the brutal murder of a retiree during a burglary that took place four months earlier in the same small town .
Kierre Williams has been charged with fatally stabbing the Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, 65, during a burglary at the rectory next to St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Calhoun just hours before he was scheduled to lead Mass on Dec. 10.
William Collins, meanwhile, has been accused of shooting Linda Childers, 71, three times with a crossbow in the back, neck and face before slitting her throat after breaking into her remote home about a mile north of the community in August.
Investigators have found no connection between the suspects and the victims in either case, which is part of what has made them so disturbing to the roughly 1,100 residents of the town located just 8 miles (12.87 kilometers) north of Omaha, near the river the Missouri. .
Both men have pleaded not guilty to murder, burglary and weapons charges; Collins is also charged with assault and theft, to which he pleads not guilty. They will both return to court next Tuesday to ask the judge to order prosecutors to provide more details about the charges against them.
Collins’ attorney did not immediately respond to a message about his case on Tuesday, but previously declined to discuss the case outside of court. Judge Bryan Meismer earlier this month rejected a motion to have the death penalty in Collins’ case ruled unconstitutional, on the grounds that courts in other cases have ruled that the death penalty in Nebraska is constitutional and that it is too early to rule. determine whether it is applied fairly.
Williams’ attorney, Brian Craig, said the charges against him do not contain any of the requirements required under state law for someone to be sentenced to death. A deputy responding to the priest’s 911 call found Williams, 43, sprawled over Gutgsell, bleeding profusely.
“Based on the allegations as presented, there are no aggravating circumstances … that would support a finding of aggravating circumstances that would subject Mr. Williams to the death penalty,” said Craig, who serves on the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, who serves as a public defender in many homicide cases in the state.
In the indictment against Collins, prosecutors laid out three aggravating circumstances that they plan to prove to justify the death penalty if he is convicted. They say Childers’ murder was particularly gruesome and brutal, and that she was killed in part to conceal Collins’ identity or some other crime.
A family member found Childers’ body in a pool of blood in her kitchen a day after she was killed.
Authorities say Collins took her car, purse and shotgun and fled to Texas, where the 30-year-old was arrested about two weeks later.