[2] On January 5, 1979, Williams and his accomplice, Ralph Holmes, entered the A & P Supermarket located at 3525 Perkins Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

During this process, Holmes pistol-whipped one of the customers, and Williams accidentally shot two people in their feet.

[3] Williams was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death by District Judge Frank Foil on May 30, 1979.

He claimed Kelly would not have been killed if he had been trained properly and had been equipped with the correct weapon.

[2][10] Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, Williams was the first person to be executed in Louisiana, and the tenth in the United States.