..  ..Harold Lamont "Wili" Otey ...No 31840 ...Nebraska State Penitentiary - Lincoln, Nebraska ...Year of Birth 1952 ...Marital Status single ...Children none ...Date of offense June 11, 1977 ...Sentenced to death June 20, 1978 ...Status Executed September 3, 1994, by electrocution . Click on the image to view a larger version. Scroll below for an account of the session.

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Harold Lamont Otey was convicted of the rape & murder of 26 year old Jane McManus in her Omaha apartment. According to the state, Otey entered the apartment in the middle of the night & removed a stereo. When he reentered to remove other items, McManus awoke. Otey raped McManus, then stabbed & finally strangled her with a belt. Arrested six months later in Florida, Otey confessed to the crime but later recanted. At trial he was represented by an inexperienced attorney; the state was represented by the most experienced homicide prosecutor in Nebraska. Otey spent 17 years on death row. In 1994 his appeal for clemency was denied, & he was executed. Wili strode through the door, with a stack of textbooks under his arm...alone. I was in the same room with a convicted murderer. This was no longer theoretical. I panicked; I didn't know what to say. But Wili's quiet confidence helped me to regain my equilibrium. As I listened, he told stories - of betrayal by the press, of friends who had championed his cause. Slowly, I realized he was not the person I thought he was. I would never again fall into that trap with my subjects. Illiterate when he was convicted, Wili, or 'Walkin' Willie (a nickname he got as a handler on the horse-racing circuit) was now articulate & well read. (His college education had been paid

for by the state.) Wili had mastered the English language well enough to write poetry, & had published three books of his verse. He was now a model prisoner with unique privileges: the guards were so comfortable with him, he could move about the prison unescorted. Like many other prisoners, after years in jail Wili had undergone such a dramatic transformation, he was no longer the same person who had committed the crime he was being punished for. Even the prison administrators admitted Wili was a changed person. The state was having a hard time getting rid of Wili. He had proven to be a worthy adversary. His story had remained on the front page for years because of media blitzes from the local press & TV newsmagazines. Pressure had been mounting to reinstate executions in Nebraska - the last had been in 1963 - & the stateís largest newspaper, the Omaha World-Herald, had been relentless in demanding his death. While most death-row inmates desire to slip into the safety of obscurity, Wili had chosen to fight back, with help from friends & supporters all over the US. Wili eventually lost his battle. In return for clemency, the governor of Nebraska demanded that Wili show remorse for an act he claimed he didnít do. On 13 September 1994, at one minute past midnight, Harold 'Wili' Otey made history. He became the first man to be electrocuted in the state of Nebraska in 31 years. He maintained his innocence to the end.