A Free Soul at Last

October, 2022. Attendees gathered for a two-hour journey that began with the arrest and 1931 execution of the youngest person to be put to death in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Alexander McClay Williams. This examination traced the case up to this year, when a new trial was granted to this 16-year-old child, for a murder he did not commit. Not only does this case hold great historical importance, it also connects to current jurisprudence by virtue of its compelling ethical, racial, and socio-economic facets, and the mandate for equal justice under law.

Dr. Sam Lemon, the great-grandson of the original trial attorney, William H. Ridley, Esq., the first African American admitted to the Delaware County Bar in 1891, presented the origins of his research on this historic legal case. He eventually spent over 30 years conducting research, visiting the scene of the crime, gathering primary legal documents, and contacting the sole surviving sibling of the late youth, as well as a descendant of the murder victim, to gather additional oral history. Robert C. Keller, Esq., Alexander McClay Williams’ family attorney, spoke about why he chose to take on an enormously challenging case of historic proportions, beset with highly charged racial overtones, and a vexing lack of evidence, except for the original trial transcript long thought to be no longer extant. Mr. Keller worked closely with Dr. Lemon and the Williams family for the next seven years, to bring this long-forgotten case back into the modern legal system and to seek justice for an impoverished Black teenager who was wrongly executed for a crime he did not commit. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer spoke about his involvement in the case, and how meeting with Mr. Keller and Dr. Lemon in June of 2021 eventually led to the unusual step of crafting a joint motion to the Court to grant Alexander McClay Williams a new trial. The Honorable Judge Kevin F. Kelley spoke about the critical role the Court played in this historic case on his last day as President Judge, and the process of ultimately granting relief for a young defendant whose Constitutional rights had been violated.

WHEREAS, Alexander McClay Williams was born on July 23, 1914. He was one of thirteen children in the Williams family; and WHEREAS, Alexander McClay Williams had been sentenced to an indeterminate stay at Glen Mills School for Boys in Delaware County by Judge W. Roger Fronefield; and, WHEREAS, on October 3, 1930, Vida Robare was brutally murdered in the bedroom of her cottage on the Glen Mills School grounds; and WHEREAS, the day after the murder, the chief county detective was quoted in the newspaper as saying, “This crime was committed by a full grown and strong man”; and

WHEREAS, Vida’s ex-husband Fred Robare had a history of domestic violence, and Vida had divorced him citing “extreme cruelty”; and WHEREAS, Alexander McClay Williams due process rights were violated; he was interrogated by police without a lawyer or adult present, his confessions were inconsistent and likely coerced, and Vida Robare’s death certificate was apparently doctored by authorities; and WHEREAS, despite this, Alexander McClay Williams’ was charged with first-degree murder. William H. Ridley, the son of runaway slaves and the first African American lawyer admitted to the Delaware County bar, was appointed to represent Williams and was given just 10 dollars and a few weeks to mount the defense; and WHEREAS, the trial lasted two days and was presided over by the same judge who had sent Williams to the Glen Mills School for Boys, and an all-white jury deliberated for four hours before finding Williams guilty. He was sentenced to death and executed on June 8, 1931; and WHEREAS, the Williams family dedicated itself to proving Alexander’s innocence. After extensive research and advocacy by the Williams family and Samuel Lemon, the great-grandson of William H. Ridley, and the help of District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, Robert C. Keller, Esquire, and others on June 13, 2022, Judge Kevin F. Kelly overturned the conviction in the same Delaware County courtroom where Williams had been convicted more than 9 decades ago, stating “it agrees with the imposition of his of his death sentence, Mr. Williams was legally abandoned by