Murderer ready to pay for crime

Friday, July 14, 2006

Shed no tears for William E. “Junior” Downs.

The man who confessed to the brutal murder/rape of a young North Augusta boy in 1999 is to be executed in Columbia late this afternoon.

Downs’ crime took away the life of a 6-year-old child, Keenan O’Mailia, and took away the innocence of a fine city. No longer would parents let their children out of the house for a bike ride down the block without taking extra precautions. Young Keenan had gone out riding his bike when he was abducted and brutalized. A little more than a week later, Downs was arrested in Warner Robins, Ga., and charged with the murder.

During his trial three years later, Downs entered a guilty plea to the crime and accepted the death penalty. With no effort on his part to fight the death-by-lethal-injection sentence, Downs is now set to pay for the terrible crime he committed. At 6 p.m. the sentence is to be carried out.

This is the third terrible crime in Aiken County to reach a sentencing conclusion in recent months. Hastings Wise was executed in November 2005 for the shooting spree at the R.E. Phelon Plant in 1997 that left four people dead.

Robert Atkins was sentenced to life in prison in May after agreeing to plead guilty to the rape-murder of Aiken teenager Jessica Carpenter in her home in 2000.

The common thread of all three crimes is that they are so unexpected in a county such as ours. The best of life and the best of people are found right here in our community. These incidents show that the worst can also be in our midst. The passing of Downs will allow a community to get on with the positive aspects of life rather than dwelling on the evil which preys on good people.

The world should pay little attention to Junior Downs. It must never forget Keenan O’Mailia.