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17, 2012 | V
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MISSISSIPPIAN T h e S t u d e n t N e w s pa p e r
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M i ss i ss i p p i | S e r v i n g O l e M i ss
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DAVID Williams pleads guilty to City considers parking manslaughter and kidnapping management plan Former Ole Miss student Demetria Bracey’s family gained closure yesterday, after David Williams accepted his role in her death. BY HOUSTON BROCK thedmnews@gmail.com
David Williams plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping inveiglement of Demetria Bracey Monday morning. Williams will serve 25 years on both counts, with the possibility of having the last five years suspended following a mental evaluation. Williams was a student at the University of Mississippi when he and Bracey, also an Ole Miss student, allegedly made a suicide pact together. Bracey was found dead in Williams’ apartment in November 2005 with an apparent stab-wound in her chest. Her body was in his apartment for four days before Williams called Bracey’s parents and told them she committed suicide. Williams was found guilty of murdering Bracey by a jury in 2007 and was sentenced to life in prison, where he remained until his case was reopened by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2011. Williams had the opportunity to be charged with assisted suicide, something the jurors were not aware of dur-
COURTESY WTVA-TV
Former Ole Miss student David Williams
ing the first trial. The Mississippi Supreme Court wanted Williams to have the opportunity to be tried again, but he instead opted to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping inveiglement. District Attorney Ben Creekmore said the prosecution worked with the defense on Williams’ plea offer. “With this plea, he accepted responsibility for her death,” Creekmore said. “He stood in open court and accepted responsibility and will be punished for that.” Demetria Bracey’s father Jerome had an opportunity to address the court and the
defendant, at which time he forgave him for what he did. “He was very emotional about it,” Creekmore said. “It’s a pain he’ll never overcome, but he is glad that the defendant accepted responsibility.” Williams Attorney David Hill said he felt the verdict was appropriate for his client. “Today David Williams was given the opportunity to accept responsibility for his role in Demetria Bracey’s death,” he said. “David freely admitted at the time of his arrest to aiding, abetting and encouraging Demetria’s death, as part of a suicide agreement. The charges for which he accepted responsibility today more appropriately fit that conduct which he has never denied committing, rather than the charge for which he was initially indicted.” Creekmore said this case has been important to his office for a long time now. “We do feel like it does justice for Demetria Bracey and can give her family some closure with the respect to the judicial system,” he said.
Oxonians and students need not fear paid parking on the Square for now, as The Downtown Parking Advisory Commission considers a “Plan B” to managing parking.
WILL STROUTH | The Daily Mississippian
The Board of Aldermen meeting Friday morning in the board room to discuss paid parking on the square.
BY MEGAN SMITH thedmnews@gmail.com
The Downtown Parking Advisory Commission has put the idea of paid parking
on the Square on hold and is considering enforcement as a method to manage the downtown parking issue. See PARKING, PAGE 4
A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S
Future of state’s only abortion clinic remains unclear JACKSON, Miss. – U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III ruled Friday that a strict abortion law passed by the Republican-controlled legislature can take effect, but he gave the clinic more time to comply with the law’s requirements and said it won’t face any criminal or civil penalties as it tries to do so. The law requires anyone who performs abortions at the clinic to be an OB-GYN with privileges to admit pa-
tients to a local hospital. The clinic’s two out-of-state OB-GYNS don’t have those privileges and have had difficulty getting them from local hospitals. “We do not yet know whether the clinic will obtain admitting and staff privileges,” the judge wrote. “As both parties stated during the hearing, the resolution of that issue will impact the ultimate issues in this case.” Both sides claimed partial victory Friday evening.
“The federal judge has provided crucial temporary protection for the clinic and its physicians,” said Nancy Northup, the president and CEO of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which has been helping the clinic in the lawsuit. “We will remain vigilant in our fight to ensure the clinic isn’t subject to penalties that would force its doors to close and deprive Mississippi women of their constitutionally-protected rights.”
Gov. Phil Bryant said Friday he was “gratified” that the judge will allow the law to start taking effect. “Mississippi will continue to defend this important measure as the legal process moves forward,” the Republican governor said in a news release. The clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, has said it could be forced out of business with the admitting privileges requirement, making it nearly im-
possible to get an abortion in Mississippi. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled states can’t place undue burdens on, or create substantial obstacles to, women seeking abortions. The clinic said its OBGYNs have applied for admitting privileges at most Jackson-area hospitals but haven’t received responses. When clinic employees called a Catholic hospital to See CLINIC, PAGE 4