A Laurel man who beat and stabbed his girlfriend to death and seriously injured her young son has been warned by the state Supreme Court to stop the “frivolous filings” or face fines.
Kenneth Wilson, 45, was convicted in Jones County Circuit Court in 2004 of murder in the stabbing death of girlfriend Lisa Williams and aggravated assault for stabbing her son Michael D’Anthony in the forehead and leg. Wilson was ordered to serve life plus 20 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Despite repeated confessions on video, he appealed, but his conviction and sentence were affirmed by the high court in 2006 and a later application for post-conviction relief was denied. Wilson filed a second such application this year that “does not meet any of the exceptions” required for the legal procedure and he “failed to make a substantial showing of the denial of state and federal rights,” Justice Josiah Dennis Coleman wrote for the majority opinion.
Coleman also wrote that the filing is “frivolous” in denying Wilson’s second application. The justice added: “Wilson is hereby warned that future filings deemed frivolous may result not only in monetary sanctions but also in restriction on filing applications for post-conviction collateral relief.”
Laurel police responded to a domestic disturbance at the North 2nd Avenue home Wilson shared with Williams and her two sons on the evening of July 2, 2003, and took him to the police station, where his parents picked him up. About an hour later, Wilson went back to their home, broke in and began punching her in the face. A “fierce fight erupted” between household members, according to court records, and Wilson tossed Williams to the floor and “continued to beat her in the face with his fists” before grabbing a knife from a nearby kitchen counter. Wilson then stabbed Williams 14 times, and “while attempting to defend his mother, Michael was stabbed once in the forehead and once in the leg by Wilson.” Her son was around 10 years old at the time.
When then-LPD Sgt. Kevin Jackson and Officer Styron Kellar arrived, Wilson was standing on the front porch, “knife still in his hand and blood covering his clothing,” according to court documents. After a short standoff in which Wilson asked police to kill him then cut himself on his arms and hands, then-Lt. Tyrone Stewart was able to disarm him. Wilson reportedly made “incriminating statements” to police while he was being transported to the hospital.
Court records show that Wilson was confessing even as he was being placed in handcuffs and being read his Miranda rights by Stewart. Wilson interrupted repeatedly and said, “I did it” and “guilty” five times while being read his rights. When Stewart read that he had a right to a lawyer, Wilson said, “Tyrone, guilty, guilty. I don’t need one ... Guilty.” He made more statements about his guilt at the hospital in the presence of then-Investigator Tommy Cox, who was sent there to provide security and again in the presence of then-Investigator Earl Reed when he went there to photograph Wilson’s wounds. In a later videotaped interview with investigators, he confessed to stabbing Williams and her son.
Since his conviction, Wilson has filed appeals claiming that his confession should have been suppressed and that he should have been granted a new trial and that the court failed to give certain instructions to the jury, among other things. The high court has affirmed the rulings of then-Jones County Circuit Court Judge Billy Joe Landrum.
Coleman was joined by Justices Michael Randolph, James Maxwell, Dawn Beam, Robert Chamberlin, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis in the opinion to deny Wilson’s application with the warning. Justices Leslie King and James Kitchens also agreed to deny the application for post-conviction relief but objected to the finding that it was frivolous.
“Wilson made reasonable arguments,” King wrote in a separate opinion, adding that he disagreed with the warning that Wilson would face fines for future filings. “The imposition of monetary sanctions on a criminal defendant proceeding in forma pauperis only serves to punish or preclude that defendant from his lawful right to appeal. Instead of punishing the defendant for filing a motion, I believe that this Court should simply deny or dismiss motions that lack merit.”
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