Ronald Turney Williams was convicted of murder in two states in separate years. In West Virginia he was sentenced to life imprisonment for a 1975 murder in Beckley and later convicted of felony murder in connection with a mass escape from the state penitentiary in November 1979. At large for about eighteen months, he was in Scottsdale, Arizona, in March 1981, where John V. Bunchek, 74, died. A jury in Arizona convicted Williams on February 10, 1984, of "first degree murder and armed burglary in the first degree," and he was sentenced to death.
Williams was serving a life sentence at the old penitentiary in Moundsville for the murder of David Lilly of Beckley. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in its 2006 opinion on the Arizona case, describes this as a 1975 West Virginia first-degree murder conviction for which he received a life sentence, and notes that a key witness in that case later recanted. West Virginia's sentencing terms include "life with mercy", which allows parole eligibility after a fixed period.
On November 7, 1979, Williams was one of fifteen inmates who left the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville. State Trooper Phillip Kesner, who was off duty, was killed during the escape, and his death was attributed to Williams. The Ninth Circuit's 2006 opinion describes the second West Virginia conviction as a felony murder conviction arising from a prison escape in which a guard was killed, and records Williams's own position that he was convicted only for participating in the escape, not for the killing.
The FBI placed Williams on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list as number 373. He was arrested in New York City on June 8, 1981, ending about eighteen months at large. Court records show that Williams had escaped from prison eight times by 1995.
The Arizona courts date the Bunchek case to March 12, 1981. John V. Bunchek was 74 and lived in Scottsdale. The Ninth Circuit opinion describes the charges as first-degree murder and first-degree armed burglary. The trial court found two aggravating circumstances: two prior convictions for which a life term could be imposed, and a pecuniary-gain motive.
Williams was tried in Arizona state court and represented himself at the guilt phase, with appointed advisory counsel. The jury returned its verdict on February 10, 1984: "first degree murder and armed burglary in the first degree." On April 23, 1984, the trial court sentenced him to death on the murder conviction and to an aggravated term of fourteen years on the burglary conviction. The judge found no mitigating circumstances.
The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed on direct appeal in 1987, in State v. Williams, 166 Ariz. 132, 800 P.2d 1240. The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in 1991. Williams filed a state post-conviction petition in January 1992; the trial court dismissed it on January 26, 1994, and the Arizona Supreme Court denied review on April 25, 1995. An execution date was then set for September 1995.
He filed a federal habeas petition on August 15, 1995, later amended to raise thirty-five claims. On January 5, 2001, the federal district court in Arizona found several claims procedurally barred and denied the rest on the merits. The Ninth Circuit granted a certificate of appealability on twenty claims and heard argument on November 17, 2005. On March 28, 2006, it affirmed the denial of relief: "We affirm Williams's conviction and affirm his sentence."
After the Arizona conviction Williams was returned to West Virginia. In July 1995 Arizona Governor Fife Symington requested his extradition to face the death sentence, and West Virginia Governor Gaston Caperton agreed to it even though West Virginia has no death penalty and Caperton opposed capital punishment. An order from the United States Supreme Court had given Williams more time to petition for review, which could delay an execution that had been scheduled for September 27, 1995, at Florence, Arizona. Williams was then 52.
In April 2019 Williams was serving two life-with-mercy sentences for murder and two consecutive terms of 25 to 100 years for kidnapping, with an earliest possible parole hearing in 2047. He was held in a West Virginia maximum-security facility, where he was expected to remain for life, and he was described as still facing the death penalty in Arizona.
West Virginia abolished capital punishment, so the Arizona death sentence could be carried out only if he were sent to Arizona. In the Arizona sentencing, "two prior convictions for which life imprisonment could be imposed" was one of the statutory aggravating circumstances, and the two West Virginia murder convictions were used to meet it.
No separate murder trial for the 1979 trooper's death is known; the conviction is for felony murder arising from the escape, which Williams says was for the escape, not the killing. In the 1975 case a key witness later recanted. The trooper's first name is spelled both Phillip and Philip, and the attribution of the death to Williams is contested.
1975: Williams convicted in West Virginia of first-degree murder; life sentence.
November 7, 1979: Escape from the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville; Phillip Kesner dies.
April 1980: Placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
March 12, 1981: John V. Bunchek, 74, dies in Scottsdale, Arizona.
June 8, 1981: Arrested in New York City.
February 10, 1984: Arizona jury verdict, "first degree murder and armed burglary in the first degree."
April 23, 1984: Death sentence.
1987: Arizona Supreme Court affirms.
1991: Certiorari denied.
April 25, 1995: Arizona Supreme Court denies review of post-conviction petition.
July 1995: Extradition agreed; execution date of September 27, 1995 set.
January 5, 2001: Federal district court denies habeas relief.
March 28, 2006: Ninth Circuit affirms.
April 2019: Held in West Virginia, parole hearing not before 2047.