The fate of a convicted killer scheduled to die Sept. 9 now rests with Gov. Mike Beebe after a split vote by the state Parole Board on Tuesday to recommend clemency.

By a 4-3 vote, the board recommended that Beebe commute the death sentence of Frank Williams Jr. to life in prison without parole.

Board Chairman Leroy Brownlee was the only member to offer an explanation for his clemency recommendation. “Unusual circumstances,” the chairman wrote on his work sheet.

Those against clemency noted the seriousness of Williams’ crime and that his allegation of an injustice “was not sustained.”

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See how the board voted

Williams, 42, was convicted of capital murder in the 1992 death of farmer Clyde Spence of Bradley. Williams, who was working on Spence’s farm as part of a prison-release program, had been fired earlier that day by Williams for breaking a tractor.

This article was published Tuesday, August 5, 2008.

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