DNA evidence leads to release of Navy vet after 3 decades in prison for killing of ex-wife

A Navy veteran who has spent almost three decades in prison for the murder of his ex-wife was ordered to be released Tuesday after a Lake County judge overturned his conviction.

Herman Williams, 58, was expected to be released from the Sheridan Correctional Center after Judge Mark Levitt vacated his conviction for the killing of Penny Williams, whose body was found in a shallow pond in Waukegan on Sept. 26, 1993.

Authorities alleged that Herman Williams, who lived in Gurnee at that time while stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in North Chicago, killed his former wife in order to gain custody of their two children.

But his attorneys from the Illinois Innocence Project and Lake County prosecutors Tuesday acknowledged that Williams’ conviction was based on scientifically unsupported forensic evidence. The Innocence Project also pointed to testimony from a police officer with a tainted record who said Williams confessed to the murder.

Prosecutors also apparently failed to disclose favorable evidence at Williams’ trial. The Innocence Project said new, advanced DNA testing excludes Williams from key biological evidence, and prosecutors Tuesday agreed with that assessment.

“This horrific crime not only robbed two children of their mother, but because of a flawed investigation, lies from police and prosecutors, and withheld evidence, they also had their father taken from them,” said Lauren Kaeseberg of the Illinois Innocence Project, who represented Williams.

“Mr. Williams lost nearly three decades of his life, and his children had to grow up thinking their own father killed their mother — because of the misconduct and faulty forensics that plagued this case,” she added.

State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart released a statement Tuesday saying that after a review, his office did not have faith in the conviction.

“Every conviction must have integrity; it must be grounded in science and in fact, and it must be the product of a fair police investigation and trial,” Rinehart said. “Because of deeply erroneous scientific evidence, new DNA results, and a faulty trial, our office was compelled to agree to Mr. Williams’ release.”

Penny Williams was 26 at the time of her death, and she had been reported missing several days before her bludgeoned body was found in a pond near the Midlane Country Club. She and Herman Williams were Arizona natives who had married and divorced, but were living together at the time of her death. Herman Williams had remarried after the couple’s divorce, but was separated from his second wife, who lived in Lake County.

Police arrested Herman Williams, a Navy chief petty officer, four days the discovery of the body and charged him with murder. Prosecutors alleged he killed his former wife in order to gain custody of their children before he was transferred to California.

Williams was convicted in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison.

A pathologist testified at trial to a narrow time frame when the victim was killed — a window that was not supported by evidence but was the only credible time Williams could have committed the crime, the Innocence Project said.

Dr. Nancy Jones, who performed the autopsy, had earlier said a wider time frame was possible, according to pretrial communications between prosecutors. That information, though, was never disclosed to Williams’ defense attorney.

A Lake County Major Crime Task Force police officer also testified that Williams confessed to the murder, though Williams testified at trial that he never confessed, according to the Innocence Project. The detective who testified has been tied to false confessions in high profile murder cases that were later overturned.

In addition to problematic testimony, the trial also featured scientific evidence that is not credible, the Innocence Project said. Penny Williams struggled with her attacker, authorities said, and DNA was recovered from her fingernails. That material was retested last year, and it did not come from Herman Williams, his attorneys said.

Penny Williams’ family was notified of the impending court action, and viewed Tuesday’s hearing via Zoom, prosecutors said.

“We will continue to support the family and investigate the DNA evidence that has been recovered,” Rinehart said. “We will coordinate with law enforcement and state forensic labs to determine what leads we can follow from the new evidence. Our job is to fight for the victim no matter how long it takes.”

He also said that his office would make a, “renewed commitment to making sure that all evidence is turned over to the defense and that our government experts use the most thorough methods in reaching their conclusions and explaining them to jury.”