Bernard Williams released on $10K bond after murder conviction overturned

Bernard Williams was 17 when he went to prison, convicted of murdering a man in a 1996 shooting that wounded three others outside a West Side bar.

Williams, now 40, walked out of Cook County Jail on Friday and into family members’ arms after being released on a $10,000 bond set earlier in the day by the Illinois Appellate Court.

Williams said he was excited to be with his family and get a chance to use some of “the new technology,” which he described as “magic” as he walked out of the barbed wire-topped gates of the jail and began video chatting with a relative.

Food was another comfort he was looking forward to — anything homemade, he said.

Williams was convicted in 1998 of killing Gary Thomas outside Wash’s Lounge in West Garfield Park and was sentenced to more than 80 years in prison by Judge Joseph Claps, according to court documents. The appellate court later dropped the sentence to 60 years.

At his trial, prosecutors said the shooting’s intended target was a gang member name Eric Smith, court records show. But Smith, an eyewitness to the shooting, was never called to testify.

Another eyewitness, Martino Powell, did testify and he pointed the finger at Williams.

Matthew Hendrickson/Sun-Times

Williams sought a new trial in 2011 when Smith told the court Williams was not the shooter. Powell, who was then in prison, told an investigator with the Cook County public defender’s office that he falsely identified Williams in return for money and help from prosecutors in his own case, according to court records.

Judge Claps, who oversaw William’s bench trial in 1998, said he didn’t believe the new evidence was sufficient to hold a hearing, according to a profile of the case reported by Injustice Watch and published last month in the Sun-Times.

The appellate court disagreed and ordered the hearing, during which Claps said he didn’t find Smith or Powell to be credible and denied Williams’ motion for a new trial, according to the report.

In February, the appellate court overruled Claps again and ordered a new trial for Williams. Prosecutors will now have to determine whether to retry the case.

The appellate court stepped in again Friday when it ordered Williams released on bond after another Cook County judge declined to do so, according to Williams’ defense attorney, Eli Litoff.

“I’m going to be vindicated, and my name will be cleared,” Williams said outside the jail after his release. “The truth is going to come out.”