Police contended that he confessed, although they had no recording. He was evaluated as intellectually disabled, according to one standard, but his defense attorney failed to discuss this or mitigating factors from his childhood. Williams' execution was twice stayed and his sentence was overturned by a federal district court judge. But Williams was executed because the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that mitigating information was introduced to the jury too late in the case. It ruled that the execution had to proceed, under the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA).