WILLIAM HARRY MEECE, flanked at right by his attorney, Vincent Yustas, showed no emotion as Circuit Judge James Weddle formally imposed a death sentence on him for the murders of Joseph, Beth and Dennis Wellnitz, Friday morning in Warren Circuit Court. (Photo by Paul B. Hayes) Saying that “there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the guilty person stands before me,” Judge James Weddle formally sentenced William Harry “Bill”Meece to death for the 1993 murders of Columbia veterinarian Dr. Joseph Wellnitz, his wife Beth and son Dennis Friday morning in a Warren County Circuit Court courtroom in Bowling Green.
However, in a rambling five-page handwritten statement Meece read at his sentencing, he still maintained his innocence and compared the Kentucky court system to the legal systems of Nazi Germany, Communist China and Soviet Russia.
Following the recommendations returned by the jury during the sentencing phase of the trial on Sept. 18 after they found Meece guilty of three counts of murder, along with first degree burglary and first degree robbery following three weeks of testimony, Judge Weddle imposed the death penalty on Meece for the murder of Joseph Wellnitz, for the murder of Beth Wellnitz, and for the murder of Dennis Wellnitz, along with 20-year sentences for burglary first degree and robbery first degree.
After hearing a motion from Meece’s attorney, Vincent Yustas, that a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole would be considered, and a motion filed by Meece himself requesting a new trial based on the fact that his previous statements made as part of an original plea agreement in which he admitted he was guilty of the murders should not have been admissible as evidence - both of which he overruled - Judge Weddle began the sentencing process.
“A trial is a search for the truth,” Weddle noted. “I heard all the evidence presented, and 12 residents of Warren County heard all the evidence. After hearing the evidence, they returned their verdicts of guilty on all counts.”
The judge then read the guilty verdicts returned by the jury, and noted that all four aggravating circumstances (of which at least one is necessary for a death sentence to be imposed) were present.
“The act that occurred over 13 years ago in Adair County was a cold-blooded killing (s) for money,” Weddle noted. “Your actions merit the maximum sentence, and I hereby order you to be put to death - may God have mercy on your soul.”
In the prepared statement which he read, Meece noted that “all I ever asked for, pleaded for, demanded and expected was a fair trial under the laws and constitutions of this Commonwealth of Kentucky and the United States of America......Such a lawful, constitutional fair trial was and is apparently beyond the capacity of the Commonwealth, its Attorney, its Department of Public Advocacy, and this court.
“I stand convicted based on...lies of my own telling,” Meece continued. “There exists no credible testimony, no credible physical evidence and not a single eye witness who can or did say I did this...”
Meece contended that his statements implicating himself in the murders given as a part of a plea agreement which he later withdrew should not have been allowed, and will be one of the main platforms of his appeal, according to his attorney Yustas.
Yustas said this argument, along with the fact that a sentence of life without parole (which was not a sentencing option under Kentucky law at the time the murders were committed), would constitute major parts of their appeal, which is automatic in death penalty cases.
In reaching their guilty verdicts, Yustas said that he “feels the jury simply couldn’t overcome the fact that Meece had pleaded guilty previously. The statements he made in order to get a new trial, I feel the jury should never had heard them.”
Commonwealth Attorney Brian Wright said following the sentencing that he was pleased with the proceedings.
“I’m pleased with everything,” Wright said. “I’m also pleased that its finally over.”
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