A Jacksonville man exonerated for a murder he did not commit has died, almost five years after the decision to end his four-decade prison sentence.

Clifford “Boonie” Williams, 81, died late Thursday, according to his daughter.

Williams and his nephew, Herbert Nathan Myers, were both cleared in early 2019 of the shooting death of Jeanette Williams and attempted murder of Nina Marshall. Substantial evidence showed the two had been imprisoned for nearly 43 years for a murder they didn’t commit.

“We felt robbed of 43 years from his wrongful conviction, and now death,” Williams daughter, Tracy Williams Magwood, wrote in a statement Tuesday, on behalf of her family, Williams’ grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. “We have been so thankful for all of the people who have been there for us. From the time of his exoneration, until his death. You all have been such a blessing to us and we are grateful.

“Though we are grieving, we don’t grieve as one with no hope. We are comforted in the fact that we will see him again. Until then, rest well, Daddy. We love you forever and always.”

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Williams and Myers were released from prison in March 2019, according to the State Attorney’s Office’s Conviction Integrity Review Unit, which found the evidence against them insufficient.

The findings of the review unit were then confirmed by State Attorney Melissa Nelson, who asked Circuit Judge Angela Cox to dismiss the 1976 murder sentences of the two men after an investigation by her office concluded it no longer had confidence in the evidence of the case. 

“As prosecutors we have a continuing post-conviction ethical obligation to pursue justice when we become aware of material evidence suggesting a conviction is not correct,” Nelson said at a news conference, adding that it was the first time a conviction integrity union had reversed a conviction in Florida.

The crime occurred May 2, 1976, as Jeanette Williams (not related to the defendant) and her girlfriend, Nina Marshall, were shot as they slept. Williams died instantly, police said. Marshall stumbled out of the apartment and flagged down a passing car, which took her to a hospital, according the state attorney’s report.

Marshal later told police Clifford Williams and Myers shot her. They were tried together, and prosecutors sought the death penalty. Their first trial ended in a mistrial, but Williams and Myers were convicted after a second, two-day trial, using Marshall’s statement as the only evidence.

“I grew up in prison to be a man. I was a kid when I came to prison,” Myers said when he was freed in 2019. “Once I came to prison I had to become a man.”  

Both men received life sentences and spent decades filing unsuccessful motions for reconsideration. Then Myers contacted Northeast Florida’s then-new Conviction Integrity Review Unit, which Nelson created in early 2018 to review claims of wrongful convictions. Both men had already been behind bars for 42 years.

At the time, Nelson said Myer’s report quickly stood out, saying both men presented claims of actual innocence “that are corroborated and substantiated by credible evidence.”

“These men would not be convicted on a jury today if the jury were presented with all the exculpatory evidence that the original jury did not hear,” Nelson said, adding that the state relied entirely on the testimony of Marshall.

RELATED: Read the conviction review report

She said no physical evidence linked Myers and Williams to the shooting. And the review unit’s 74-page report did not corroborate Marshall’s version of events “by any other testimony, physical evidence or scientific evidence.”  

“The physical evidence indicates that the shooting occurred from outside and not from inside the bedroom as Marshall described,” the report said.

Additionally, the investigation concluded Myers’ claim was credible that a man named Nathaniel Lawson admitted to several people that he shot the women and regretted that the two men were doing his time. Lawson died in 1993 and never faced a trial.

In March 2020, the Florida House unanimously approved giving Williams $2.15 million in reparations, and the state Senate unanimously passed an identical bill.

Williams’ funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Mt. Bethel Baptist Church on Helena Street.

Anne Schindler of WJCT News 89.9 contributed to this report.

Lead image: Clifford “Boonie” Williams, 81, died late Thursday, according to his daughter. | Anne Schindler, WJCT News 89.9