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jessibear78

New Member
I wanted to post this but wasn't sure where, please be gentle this is my first posting like this and I am still getting my fingers wet so to speak.

I know it's not 'new' news but it is still on going. It's close to home in that one of the boys that died was my husbands first child. He died when he was three years old.

I don't have the original articles digitally (my husband has every paper that mentioned it) but here is what I do have to post:

Pictures of the building:

fire1.jpg


fire2.jpg


vermontn03


Picture of Eric Williams:

8627249_BG1.jpg


The Stories:

http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=8627249

Man Convicted of Setting Fire that Killed 4, Says He's Innocent

Burlington, Vermont - July 7, 2008

A Milton man who admitted he set a house fire that killed three little boys and their grandmother, now says he is innocent.

28-year-old Eric Williams is serving 40-to-60 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter back in 2001. The fire happened in an apartment house in Milton in 1999. Williams, a volunteer firefighters, was reportedly upset about a breakup with a girlfriend.

Williams argues he was forced to make a false confession, had an ineffective lawyer and was pressured into accepting a plea deal.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...70312/-1/NEWS05 (broken link but was originally here)

Man disputes arson deaths conviction

By Adam Silverman
Free Press Staff Writer

July 7, 2008


A Milton man who admitted setting a 1999 fire in his apartment building that killed four neighbors says his conviction and sentence should be overturned because he is actually innocent.

A hearing about the status of Eric Williams' challenge is set for Wednesday in Chittenden Superior Court in Burlington.

Williams, 28, was sentenced in 2001 to serve 40 to 60 years in prison following his guilty plea to four counts of involuntary manslaughter arising from the deaths of three boys, all younger than 12, and their grandmother. But an attorney for Williams contends in court papers the suspect made a false confession, had an ineffective trial lawyer who failed to investigate the fire's true cause, and was pressured into accepting a plea bargain.

"Mr. Williams is, in fact, innocent of the crimes," defense attorney Mark Furlan wrote in court papers. "In order to correct a miscarriage of justice, he must be permitted to present evidence of his actual innocence."

The return of Williams' case to court has left Bobbi-Jo Perreault reeling. Three of her four children -- Ryan Francis, 11, Tyler Billado, 5, and Troy Perreault-Moulton, 3 -- and her mother, Amelia Perreault, 64, perished in the October 1999 blaze at the Sara Marie Apartments on U.S. 7 in Milton.

"Here we go again, reliving this whole thing," Perreault, 37, of St. Albans said last week. "This reopens the wound."

Williams, who had worked with a local volunteer fire department, was upset the day of the blaze about a recent break-up with his girlfriend, and the woman's interest in his best friend, according to court papers. He initially told investigators he awoke early in the morning to find his room engulfed in flames, but after extensive questioning he recanted and said he set the blaze using a lighter and some papers, according to a transcript of an interview with authorities.

The transcript reveals Williams alternated between telling police he was responsible for the fire and saying he might have committed the crime in a daze and wanted to know whether evidence proved his culpability.

"The detective knows that I did it, but I can't figure out how I did it, but I know deep down I did," Williams told Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. David Harrington shortly after the fire, according to the transcript.

Amelia Perreault and her grandsons were in an apartment above the unit Williams was convicted of igniting, and the fire trapped the family inside.

For his part, in recently filed court papers Williams does not claim he is innocent of the crime. Williams wrote and submitted documents as recently as December in which he said he "acknowledges his guilt" and decided to admit the charges "knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily." Williams argued his prison sentence was unconstitutional.

Judge Michael Kupersmith ordered Williams in May 2001 to serve four consecutive terms of 10 to 15 years. Williams argued in his self-prepared court papers he should have been ordered to serve those sentences at the same time, not one after the other, because he committed only one criminal act.

Furlan does not raise that argument in the more recent papers, which say Williams' conviction should be thrown out because trial attorney Jerry Schwarz was ineffective; the guilty pleas were not knowing or voluntary; and the defendant is innocent.

Furlan did not respond to messages last week seeking comment. Williams is incarcerated with other Vermont inmates at the Lee Adjustment Facility in Beattyville, Ky.

The Chittenden County State's Attorney's Office plans to fight Williams' challenge, said Pam Johnson, a prosecutor who specializes in appeals and post-conviction cases.

Bobbi-Jo Perreault said she and her surviving child, 18-year-old Kayla, have struggled constantly with the aftermath of the arson and the loss of their loved ones. Perreault receives permanent disability for depression and anxiety, has been unable to work and is in counseling, she said.

That Williams' case continues nearly nine years after the fire has proved devastating, Bobbi-Jo Perreault said.

"He should stay in jail," she said. "He admitted doing this. He's in there for killing four people. It's just ridiculous that he has the possibility of getting out or getting a new trial and putting us through this hell all over again."

http://www.wptz.com/news/16833914/detail.html?rss=pla&psp=news

POSTED: 2:50 pm EDT July 9, 2008
UPDATED: 7:07 pm EDT July 9, 2008

Convicted Killer Petitions For New Trial
VT Judge Agrees To Hearing

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Almost a decade after fire ripped through a Milton apartment house, killing a grandmother and three young children asleep upstairs, Eric Williams is still arguing his conviction should be thrown out as a matter of law.

Convicted Killer Says He Deserves New Trial

Williams, then 28, confessed to starting the fire, police said, explaining he was upset over a break-up with his girlfriend. Williams had no previous criminal record and by all accounts was also unaware there were people sleeping in the building.

In May, 2001, Williams expressed tearful remorse at sentencing but Judge Michael Kupersmith handed down a sentence of 40 to 60 years in prison for four counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Seven years later, a new legal team is asking a new judge to vacate Williams' conviction. A petition filed in Superior Court in Burlington argues the original defense team was so inept, and failed to pursue several obvious lines of defense, that Williams was denied his right to effective counsel and a fair trial.

Judge Matthew Katz held a brief hearing behind closed doors Wednesday to consider the petition as Bobby Jo Perreault sat waiting in the courtroom.

Perreault lost four members of her family in the 1999 fire.

"He's claimed off and on he's innocent but he's also claimed he's guilty off and on. So I'm not really sure what to think at this point," Perreault said of Williams. "I just know that someone in that house is responsible for murdering my children and my mother."

Handwritten notes filed by the judge after Wednesday's status conference indicate he is willing to consider expert testimony including a "possible psychiatrist re. voluntariness of confession." He ordered another hearing within 90 days.

Perreault said she wants the whole thing to be over. "It's very difficult to through this again," she said.

There is a Video at the link below. It shows the apartment building, Eric at sentencing and some of the mom of the kids...

http://www.wptz.com/video/16836948/index.html

===
There have been a few hearings and it looks like it's going to be moving forward. I decided to just put in the news articles because I feel I may be too involved to not make my feelings and opinions taint the information.

I will say however, My husband talked to Eric Williams when he went to the scene that night, there is no doubt in my husbands mind that he is guilty and is just having regrets because he's been in jail for nearly ten years now and doesn't want to be there any longer.

I just want justice to either be served finally or for it to continue to be served If Eric Williams is actually innocent.

I searched on this and it looks like it's not on here, if it is please point me in that direction! Thanks
 
That fire looks like it did a lot of damage. RIP to the 4 that were killed. I'm sorry to hear that your husband first child was involved. I'm sure it has to be hard for him to live with that everyday. I hope justice is served in this one too.

Thanks for posting.
 
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