Accomplice reverses his 1986 testimony to save Terrance Williams' life

MARC DRAPER, who has spent that past 28 years in prison for helping to beat a man to death, told a Philadelphia judge Thursday that he lied under duress from authorities when he testified against his accomplice and is now ready to tell the truth to save his friend's life.

"Being a man of faith, a man of God, I wouldn't want to see anybody die in that manner," a weeping Draper said of his childhood friend, Terrance Williams, 46, who is to be executed Oct. 3 for the 1984 murder of Amos Norwood, 56.

Draper, 46, the son of a retired city cop, is serving a life without parole sentence for his role in the murder. He was one of two witnesses to testify during the stay-of-execution hearing in Common Pleas Court. Andrea Foulkes, who prosecuted Williams, also testified.

During the nine-hour hearing, which resumes Monday, Judge M. Teresa Sarmina heard sharply divergent stories from Draper and Foulkes concerning the 1986 trial that resulted in Williams' death sentence.

Williams' team of federal public-defense attorneys are trying to persuade the judge to stay the execution on the grounds that Foulkes kept evidence from the jury about Norwood's sexual abuse of Williams as a teen. Had the jury heard about the abuse, it may not have sentenced Williams to death, the defense attorneys say.

City prosecutors are arguing that the sex-abuse claims are unproven and were aired during a 1998 hearing, only to be rejected by the presiding judge.

Draper said that he told Foulkes and homicide detectives at the time that an 18-year-old Williams killed Norwood out of rage after having been in an abusive sexual relationship. They told him to say the motivation had been robbery, Draper said Thursday, and he went along with them because the detectives had threatened to falsely charge him with the unsolved murder of a pregnant woman.

"There was a relationship there, and whatever happened, it was because Terry snapped in some sort of way," Draper said. "He felt trapped in the relationship" with Norwood.

Foulkes, now a federal prosecutor, vehemently denied having told Draper to lie. She also disputed his claim that he had been promised a shortened prison sentence in exchange for his testimony.

She said that although she thought there could have been a sexual relationship between Williams and Norwood, she had no proof of it.

"This is a complete lie. He never told me this case was about Terry having sex with Mr. Norwood," Foulkes said of Draper's claim. "No one in my presence told him to tell one story over another."

Deputy District Attorney Ronald Eisenberg noted after the hearing that Williams has never testified about his abuse claims. "He chose not to do that. Instead, he chose to present false testimony [in 1986] that he wasn't there. That's what this is all about," Eisenberg said.

In 1985 Williams was convicted of third-degree murder in the death of Herbert Hamilton, 50, an ex-state trooper with an eye for teenage boys. Draper testified during that trial that Williams killed Hamilton after the victim became possessive and spoke of their sexual relationship.

Foulkes told Sarmina that the motive was clearer in the Hamilton case. But withNorwood, she said, "I just didn't have that evidence."