said.

Williams shot and killed Medearis in the back as Medearis was running and begging for mercy on Sept. 8, 2013, during a dice game in Berkeley. He wanted Medearis dead because he thought he was a snitch, Horner said. Minutes before the shooting, he sent a text message to a friend saying he was about to rob Medearis.

That time Williams fired 16 shots. The first bullet fragmented and hit Williams’ 8-year-old nephew under his eye.

“Why did you do it; why did you do it?” Medearis’ mother and sister shouted over and over before being forced out of the courtroom. The women lost their composure after the court allowed them to play a recording of Medearis’ young son asking the same question.

The jury convicted Williams of two counts offirst-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder and recommended a death sentence. The special allegations of murder by lying in wait and murder during a robbery, and the fact that multiple murders were committed, made Williams eligible for capital punishment.

The last death sentence handed down in Alameda County was to David Mills in 2012 for three murders he committed in 2005. Williams was the first person Alameda County sought the death penalty against since District Attorney Nancy O’Malley took office in 2011.

California hasn’t executed a condemned prisoner since 2006 as issues over capital punishment are litigated in the courts. Proposition 62 on the November ballot brings the question of whether to repeal the death penalty back to California voters.

Brouhard said the death penalty is a reserve for