Death row inmate seeks U.S. Supreme Court review of Youngstown murder conviction
A Youngstown man sitting on Ohio's Death Row is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his conviction for murdering a 20-year-old woman and shooting a man who was holding the woman's baby at the time.
A Youngstown man sitting on Ohio's Death Row is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his conviction for murdering a 20-year-old woman and shooting a man who was holding the woman's baby at the time.
Willie G.Wilks, 46, has petitioned the justices to look at the records from his trial in Mahoning County that resulted in him being convicted of murdering Ororo Wilkins and attempting to murder Alexander Morales Jr. in May 2013.
The Ohio Supreme Court has already upheld Wilks' death sentence and ruled that he be put to death on May 18, 2022.
According to police, Ororo Wilkins was sitting on the front porch of her brother's Park Avenue house with her infant on the afternoon of May 21, 2013.
Morales said he was holding he baby when a man with an "AK" assault rifle approached the porch and asked where he could find Ororo's brother.
Morales says as he turned to go into the house the man shot him, causing Morales to fall.
Ororo tried to grab the infant, Morales said, and the man shot her once in the head, killing her.
Ororo's brother, William Wilkins, Jr., testified he was looking out of a second-floor window and saw two people in the front seat of the car. He said Wilks Jr. was standing next to the car with "a large gun, like some kind of rifle."
Wilkins testified that earlier in the day, he and Wilks had argued during a phone conversation.
Police arrested Wilks, and the jury found him guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, and five other charges.
Wilks wants his conviction and death sentence overturned, arguing that the evidence wasn't sufficient for a jury to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
He also claimed that no forensic or scientific evidence, including DNA or ballistics, linked him to the crimes and that the murder weapon was never recovered.