SCRANTON — The life of an inmate who brutally murdered a federal corrections officer was spared by a jury Monday in a decision that left the victim’s father searching for answers and a prison official fearful the outcome would put other guards’ lives at risk.

Stunned sighs erupted from Eric Williams’ loved ones after the jury reported it could not agree on whether Jessie Con-ui, 40, deserved to die for murdering Williams, 34, of Nanticoke, at Canaan federal prison in 2013. The verdict results in an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Upon learning he was destined to die behind prison walls for the crime, Con-ui did not appear to react.

Outside the courthouse, a visibly shaken Don Williams was critical of the jury who he said did “absolutely nothing” for his slain son.

“It leaves me shocked. It leaves me angry,” Williams said of the decision. “This man was already doing life. He committed a hideous murder on my son, and they gave him life again.

He continued: “Do you know what they did for him for what he did to my boy? They did absolutely nothing.”

More worrisome, one prison union official said, was the impact the sentence would have on the safety of other guards.

“This is like they put a target on our backs,” said Darrell Palmer, Northeast Regional Vice President for the Council of Prison Locals. “It’s OK to kill federal corrections officers. It’s OK to do anything possible. But when it comes to justice for us, nothing is being done.”

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for more than five hours. Many approached after the verdict declined to comment.

Initially announced as unanimous, the jury’s decision was later revealed to have been incorrectly read by U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo, who called the jury back to the courtroom about a half hour after the verdict to explain the error. He flatly denied prosecutors’ request to poll the panel on their decision.

The jury, seated June 2 after a selection process that began in late April, heard weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses in addition to impassioned arguments from attorneys pitching their cases for life and death.

But in the end, the eight women and four men who on June 7 found Con-ui guilty of the murder could not agree whether he deserved to die for it.

Con-ui’s defense team said the verdict spoke for itself. They said they declined further comment out of respect for Williams’ family.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, abruptly called off a news conference they had scheduled for after the verdict. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said there would be no comment Monday, and that a news release would be issued Tuesday.

Justified?

During trial, prosecutors argued the brutality of the crime and lasting impact it will have on Williams’ loved ones — coupled with Con-ui’s violent past — made a death sentence not only warranted, but justified.

Con-ui was sentenced to life in prison for a 2002 gang-related murder in Arizona. Before that, he received an 11-year sentence for a cocaine trafficking conspiracy. In the late 1990s, he served about five years for stealing cars, prosecutors said.

While behind bars, Con-ui continued to display a penchant for violence. He stabbed an inmate, beat another with a metal food tray, and threatened to kill a guard, according to prosecutors. Other acts of violence he planned were thwarted before he could carry them out, prosecutors said.

Con-ui’s court-appointed defense team argued he was a product of poverty, domestic violence and a flawed prison system that left him ill-equipped to rejoin the population as a productive member of society.

They did not call any witnesses during the trial’s guilt phase, in fact admitting in openings he was guilty of Williams’ murder “beyond all doubt.” But in the penalty phase, they focused largely on Con-ui’s stepfather, who they said would sometimes lock Con-ui out of his home and force him to sleep in cars.

Con-ui, a native of the Philippines whose family immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1980s, once showed promise but turned to hard drugs, alcohol, and crime in his late teens and eventually landed in juvenile prison, his attorneys said.

He served time for stealing cars and later became involved in a fatal shooting for the New Mexican Mafia gang in 2002. He was set to return to Arizona to begin serving a life sentence for the murder in September 2013, about seven months after he killed Williams.

Fight to continue

In a short statement from the defense table, Con-ui apologized for the suffering he caused Williams’ loved ones. He said he wishes he could take back the murder — a killing he could not explain.

The statement contradicted Con-ui’s own words from shortly after the murder in which he told Williams’ coworkers he killed the guard because he felt disrespected.

A former Canaan inmate present during Williams’ murder previously told the Times Leader he believes Con-ui killed the guard because he preferred the confines of federal prison to that of Arizona’s state system, which is regarded as a tougher place to do time.

Don Williams acknowledged his fight for justice for his son hit a roadblock, but he plans to endure.

“We’re going to continue our fight for justice and safety for corrections people, I think even now with more resolve,” he said.

Con-ui
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Jessie-Con-Ui-2014zillaCMYK-2.jpg.optimal.jpgCon-ui

Williams
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_Eric-Williams-cmyk-2.jpg.optimal.jpgWilliams

Don Williams, father of slain corrections officer Eric Williams, said he was ‘shocked’ and ‘angry’ by the jury’s decision to not impose the death penalty on Jessie Con-ui.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL071017conui3-1.jpg.optimal.jpgDon Williams, father of slain corrections officer Eric Williams, said he was ‘shocked’ and ‘angry’ by the jury’s decision to not impose the death penalty on Jessie Con-ui. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Don Williams and prison union official Darrell Palmer express shock and fear in the fallout of a jury’s decision Monday to sentence Jessie Con-ui to life in prison.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL071017conui1-1.jpg.optimal.jpgDon Williams and prison union official Darrell Palmer express shock and fear in the fallout of a jury’s decision Monday to sentence Jessie Con-ui to life in prison. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader
Jury’s decision leaves Eric Williams’ father ‘shocked’

By Joe Dolinsky

jdolinsky@timesleader.com

Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL.

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