UPDATE: (Apr 22, 2010) He’s dead.
From the victim’s mother:
After the execution, MaryAnn Martinez read a statement. The family did not take questions.
“Sophia was our flesh and blood, our beloved,” MaryAnn Martinez said. “The night she was murdered she had no fanfare, no witnesses, no chaplain, no last meal. Today is not about revenge. Today is not about closure. Today is not about anyone else other than my sister.”
Last Meal
I don’t think I could eat a few hours before being put to death…especially if I were innocent (as Wee Willy claims). Instead Wee Willy had quite the appetite. Here’s how your tax dollars were spent comforting a pathetic waste of life:
Berkley had his final meal at 3 p.m., which consisted of two BLT cheeseburgers, two jalapeño cheeseburgers, fried okra, french fries with ketchup and mustard, brownies, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and three root beers.
Dude shouldn’t have been fed at all on the final day. Not like he was going to starve to death or need the nourishment for anything…
_________________
Sophia Martinez: murdered by Ghost Berkley
William Josef Berkley is next on the chopping block on Texas’ Death Row, where he’ll be executed tomorrow evening just after 6:00 p.m. Huntsville Texas Time (HTT).
Willy has been on Texas Death Row since July 18, 2002 for the March 2000 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 18-year old Sophia Martinez in El Paso, TX.
Martinez was a senior at Burges High School who dreamed of becoming a history teacher. Her two sisters and mother, Lourdes Licerio, plan to be at Berkley’s execution Thursday in Huntsville.
Willie’s own parents probably won’t make it.
Willy is a rock star on the Euro Pen Pals/Death Row Groupie circuit, mostly because he was born in Germany (his dad was a high-ranking NCO in the Army and his mother was from Germany). Plus, Willy used the gullible ladies and pen pals to help him sell his prison “art work.” Before his site was shut down (www.ghostondeathrow.com).
He even convinced one of the more seriously deranged and damaged women to marry him.
Here’s Wee Willy’s wife girlfriend, a French woman named Samantha Grey, whom he met and married after arriving on death row:
Samantha Grey: How much self-loathing and low self-esteem do you have to have to become the girlfriend of a murdering POS like William "Ghost" Berkley?
On a German pen-pal site, Willy describes himself as “a 30year old white male that was born in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany. I can read and write in German, English and Spanish am well educated and am looking for a couple of good solid friends.”
Sadly, he wasted that good education the night he decided to shoot young Sophia in the face five times after raping her, and then discarding her lifeless body in the middle of the desert.
Willy and all of that good educat’n he got is acting as his own attorney. He recently filed a writ asking that his death sentence be thrown out because it “violated double jeopardy laws”.
He claims he could have been sentenced to either death or prison time. His argument is that since he is serving prison time while awaiting execution, he is essentially serving two sentences.
Facts of the Crime
Wee Willy claims that he is innocent of killing Sophia, but the evidence against him is staggering. There is video of him shooting Sophia in her car at the ATM. His semen was found in her body. He initially confessed. The second time in great detail.
From the Attorney Generals Office:
An autopsy revealed Sophia had been shot five times in the face and head and that Berkley’s semen was found in Martinez’s body.
Berkley became a suspect in Martinez’s murder in September 2000, when a woman contacted the police and implicated both Berkley and her husband.
The woman reported finding a set of unfamiliar car keys and Sophia Martinez’s driver’s license on the kitchen counter of the apartment where she and her husband lived. Berkley burned the driver’s license on a grill. When the woman later saw a newspaper report of Martinez’s murder, she recognized Martinez from the driver’s license.
On October 1, 2000, Berkley was living with his parents. A police search of their home that day produced a black “beanie” hat that was identical to the one seen on the man in the ATM surveillance video. The police also recovered a .22 caliber revolver from the night stand in Berkley’s father’s bedroom, latex gloves in Berkley’s bedroom at his parents’ house, and Martinez’s car keys from the roof of the apartment complex where the woman who implicated Berkley lived.
Berkley was arrested, and confessed in writing on October 1, 2000.
Two days after Berkley gave his first written statement, Berkley’s father notified police that Berkley wished to make another statement. In his second, far more detailed, written statement, Berkley added that the murder weapon was a .22 caliber handgun he had secretly taken from his father and that he later burned “the girl’s” driver’s license in a barbeque grill.
Willy ends his pen pal request with:
I am a diamond in the dirt waiting to be found. Get to know me and you’ll see in the long run. I hope you will give US the opportunity to blossom a new friendship and embark on a new chapter in our lives.
In about 24 hours from now, Willy will literally be “in the dirt,” and justice will have finally been served.
Next
Five short (but too long) days after Wee Willy is fed to the worms and maggots, Samuel Bustamante will be put to death for the 1998 stabbing murder of 27-year old Rafael Alvarado during a robbery in Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston.
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Grrr. Trying to post Sophia’s photo. Sophia Martinez
Sickening. Another scumbag soon to be off the face of the earth.
This creep hates women. He has a history of attacking them. He shot Ms. Martinez 5 times in the face.
He’s an idiot, too. In his confession he told the police that: (1) his gun went off as he approached Sophia’s vehicle, (2) he then entered her vehicle, directed her to make a $200 withdrawal from her account, and directed her to drive her vehicle away from the ATM to a deserted area; (3) when they arrived at that location, “the girl” initiated multiple episodes of sexual relations between them, (4) when she attempted to hug him, his gun “went off” again, (5) he passed out and did not wake up for several hours, (6) when he did so, he saw “the girl” laying on the ground, (7) he “freaked out” and drove her car to another part of the desert where he drove it off the road, and (8) he then walked home.
Anonymous, are you saying that he lied??? You didn’t believe that explanation? It sounds so plausible and it could have happened that way….NOT. Let the worms feast!!
Any one know where his grave is? I need to go to the restroom……
Good question. I haven’t found its location. Unfortunately, the latest fad is to list murderers in Find A Grave. This asshole has two pages but they contain scant information.
I read somewhere about some lady writing and visiting him from over seas…what can be wrong with a person that can associate with such trash…She needs to have her head examined…anyone that rapes and kills should have no rights what-so-ever! No contact with the outside world at all, bread and water till death which should be done in the most painful way possible. Just my 2 cents…burn n h3ll scumbag…if they bury you at the Byrd cemetery, I’ll definitely stop by and spit on your grave…
Very well said Amarius. Couldn’t agree with you more.
Well, is not that complex, most women who stablish a romantic relationship with this type of individuals, are 1: women with very very low self steem, and inclinations to masoquism, 2: and sadly a very common cause among them but not perceived by society is a twisted mind, they lack the corage to explore their dark side on their own and resource to this type of relationships, with the hope of finding someone who leads them. sick isn’t it?
That’s probably Samantha, his fwench wife. She’s dumb as a rock.
http://goo.gl/qfN8
Wow…what a sick, self-loathing, horribly fucked-up woman Samantha Grey is.
To think that the only man capable of loving her — the only man whom she can feel “safe” with — is a murdering piece of shit who raped a young woman before murdering her.
I can’t even begin to imagine the level of insanity that Ms. Grey lives in.
Robbie, she can’t help who she loves. And anyways, he is just misunderstood. Didn’t you hear? His trial was unfair. You have to wonder what colour the sky is in Samantha’s world!!
you are so right!!!!
Here’s another version by the creep: “The girl started rubbing my chest again. She started kissing my neck and my ear. I pushed her away. I got angry. 1pulled away from her andthen shot her. I just kept firing. I continued to fire the gun after she fell to the ground.”
[Who doesn't get sexually aroused after being shot in the face, robbed, and kidnapped?]
This guy just gets sicker and sicker. Just take him out back and let the family put him down. Eye for an eye.
Yet, there are aholes arguing that he is innocent. I love when they argue: You weren’t there!!!!11!!!! You don’t know!!1!!!!!!
I can’t believe he said that and people believe him…here are some more of “Samantha’s” words, his avid nutball supporter:
Do you believe he is innocent, and why?
YES! William is innocent, there is no doubt in my mind that he is. William had a very unfair and unjust case. He was basically railroaded by the system. Its so sad. So many things in his trial and such just do not add up in any way. There are things missing, evidence not heard, contradictory statements from law officials and witnesses. The case in itself was a pure mess. I cannot believe that twelve people could sit and listen to all the inconstancies and still say this man needed to die.
Makes me ill…they were all railroaded right? The lies and filth he spewed in that interview..and people wonder why pro-dp people are so p!ssed?? Because you insane people support murderers and rapists and child killers…what I’d like to hear about is an anti-dp person that had a horrible crime like this occur..I’ve never heard of that..I bet they wouldn’t be supporting and hand holding then…oh well…
Another piece of trash that killed an innocent girl will be wiped clean from the earth soon…I only wish he got the same treatment he gave her..
You really have to wonder about these groupies though. How do youhave such little self-respect and be so desperate for affection that you would pick one of these murderers??
I think part of the problem is that we tolerate such nonsense. I would never be friends with a scumpal. I would not allow them in my house.
I blame the churches for this crap, too. They care more about the murderer than the victims and their families.
Way too much tolerance today for what is clearly wrong.
However, you can’t blame the churches.
Sure, some of them are sympathetic to the murderer, but there’s more of them are show greater care to the victim.
Of course, then there are the churches who stand behind watching the murderer die.
The family of Angel Vincent beg to differ:
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/04/19/victims-family-infuriated-by-prayer-vigil/
How a church stands is its own business.
My standing is that such heinous crimes cannot be forgiven, not in any practical sense.
Get this comment he spewed…
“I screwed up and signed two confessions, but I could not read what I was signing because I did not have my glasses.” I’VE NEVER READ ANYTHING MORE RETARDED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE…
Oh my gosh, the victim was such a beautiful girl…
Samantha..you make me violently ill with your blatant disrespect for this brutal taking of a life…
OH..on a lighter note..I saw this on a pro-dp website the other day…it just might fit you!
GOING AWAY GREETING CARDS
(Front of card)
We made you a bid deal
Fried chicken was your last meal
I was your wife and never got any
Not even a slap on the fanny
(Inside of card)
On your last day in this world I wish you the best media coverage and publicity…
“Love you until death do us part”
Offered in a two-for-one package wtih a “Hey there, you were my husband’s neighbor and I’m now single- “wink wink” Card.
That’s just too classic…
Has anyone studied whether the worms would actually eat the carcass of a dead scumbag? Worms may not be that desparate.
Been too long since we’ve had an execution to discuss.
Sad thing is his “wife” is one of the better looking Euroweenies I’ve seen. Too bad she’s too f’ed up in the head to make a decent spouse.
Saw the TDCJ website. Eleven upcoming executions between now and July 20. Would be nice if there were more — clean out death row faster — but that’s the most I recall ever seeing at one time.
Of course she may take his dead carcass back to France. Let them pollute their soil with this scum.
Sumpals are stupid:
“The mother of the alleged victim stated that she looked forward to the execution because it will bring her a sense of relief. Study after study has shown this not to be true. Sad for all involved, but whether he did it or not, killing him will only add more pain.”
Alleged victim? Does the idiot think the young woman consented to being shot in the face, robbed, kidnapped, raped, and shot 4 more times in the face?
Study after study? Can these creeps ever not lie?
Berkley is such a vile POS there is going to be great relief and rejoicing after his execution.
It is 8:25 pm CDT – is this POS scumbag gone from our world yet? I can not find confirmation as to his long-awaited demise.
That would be tomorrow my friend…tomorrow…
BTW…you can look up Death Row and it will take you to the TDCJ website…it has all the scumbags execution dates..
The Times does suck. But when a third-rate news web-site manages to run a more in-depth analysis of a pretty important El Paso-related event, well…new levels of suckage are reached!
Is it no wonder the dinosaur media is going extinct???
http://urbangrounds.com/2010/04/william-josef…
http://goo.gl/YmyI
Oh, forgot: The 5th Circuit COA rejected his stay.
NAH, NAH, NA NAH NA! ROTFLMAO….
Execute slime Wee Willy and call it Taking Out The Garbage.
Let’s see…it’s 12:32 right now…he’s in the van…has already driven over the lake..seeing people, horses, the beautiful tall trees…enjoy it bub…it’s your last ride. My thoughts are with the Martinez family…
Don’t forget the Bluebonnets, it is the last time our beautiful state flower will be gazed upon by this cowardly murderer.
Ah yes…our beautiful bluebonnets
…hope he’s suffering…
I hope he is in a corner of his cell, in the fetal position, scared out of his mind. Fucking piece of shit!
Guess when I came back to my computer I should have refreshed the page. So, I hope he is in the van shitting his pants! The needle is too easy!!
Fetal position?
I’m only interested in his being in a fatal position.
In what some call the “Jesus Christ” pose, splayed out on the gurney.
Berkley told Jacque, his co-defendant, that before he murdered Sophia she asked for the photo of her baby brother out of her wallet. When the police found her body, they found the photo tucked over her heart.
That is heart wrenching…well..now it’s 2:38pm and counting..guess he’s eating his last meal about now..if he can even eat…hope he chokes on it.
only 2 1/2 hours left dirtbag…hope you’re terrified…as scared as that poor beautiful girl was you so brutally killed…i am so sick of people saying it does not deter murder, the death penalty…who cares…anyone that kills our children or women in such a despicable manner should be raped to death..if we gotta deal with a stupid needle..that sux..but so be it…bye you trashy evil dirtbag.
Time to beam Bones down Scotty, he has a pronouncement to make.
I am heading to Huntsville right now to protest just as loud as the anti dp’s. They are always outside the walls unit with their stupid little signs and all of their euroweenie points of view. Me and a number of my friends will be walking with a huge Texas flag and a big sign that says “so long POS”. Of course the media will never cover us and only point out the other side.
Texas will be a better place around 6:05 and hopefully his french bitch will get him off Texas soil as soon as possible.
Today I am very proud of my state for exercising the justice that is missing in much of this country and much of the world. I sleep better at night knowing that this POS will never hurt my two step daughters or my new baby girl on the way.
Next time a eurowenie says how barbaric we are…use a line from the dem playbook and say “but it’s for the children”.
GOD BLESS TEXAS!!
Proud of you!
You will be speaking for many of us who can’t be there, and who love our state and our children.
GOD BLESS TEXAS!(again and again)
Good for you!
GOD BLESS TEXAS IS RIGHT!!! I AM WITH YOU IN SPIRIT!! So proud of you as well!! It’s 4:49pm…hmmm…no long now…Good Riddance Rapist/Murderer!
WooHoo, wish I could be there with you!!! God Bless This Great State and people like you that stand up for the victims instead of the murdering POS’s!
I love how all the murderer lovers think that calling and writing letters to Perry will influence him. LOL
Good riddance and may god have mercy on his soul (however unlikeley that is to happen)
I cannot find confirmation of his death…sitting at my desk in Vegas praying for Sophia’s family and thanking God above for the existance of the death penalty. Wish we used it here in Nevada at the same rate you guys do in Texas! SM, God rest your beautiful soul.
Yeah, they’ve been slow in reporting the past couple of executions.
He’s dead. Not only merely dead, but really most sincerely dead.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/video/23227778/index.html
Check out the video stories from the time of the murder and conviction.
Rot in Hell, motherfucker.
Take care of his daughter??? He never gave the mother any money to support her. She had to haul his ass to court. And according to a witness at trial, he was physically abusive to her and she was only a toddler.
Well said Sam. My sentiments exactly.
*ummh-ummh*
He’s dead, Jim.
Heh. His trial attorney said when the DP was imposed it was a waste of two young promising lives.
Exactly what was promising about that idiot’s violent misogynistic life? He was a murder waiting to happen.
What is the other life this weasel believes was wasted?
Surely he expressed no concern over the murder of Miss Martinez.
He didn’t acknowledge her family. No “I’m sorry for what I did to your baby” no apology, nothing. They should have strapped him to the table and let the parents douse him in gasoline and toss a lit match.
Rot in hell motherfucker!!
One more thing. God bless Texas! This California Native is jealous.
lol i agree gasoline would have been better!lol rip sophia martinez. to hell with her killer,i just watch this on the new DISAPPEARED show on I.D. DISCOVERY CHANNEL very sad.or i think it could have been the new series called Stolen VOICES-BURIED Secrets.really sad.
to RedheadFutureAttorneyNYC:
[email protected] yes i agree wit ya.
to the future attorney in ny/nj above i agree and love your post.
i agree,well written i agree on all points. definitely will change stop killing as i see on nancy grace each week too much killling,will stop i agree if the killer knew death row is mandatory in 10 years or less i agree.
For the record… William has never been married, Samantha was a pen pal, she’s very much from the US and not from France.
He is still dead, right?
Let’s consult the thermometer:
It says pendejo frio
Doesn’t change the fact that she was still a bit messed up in the head to associate herself with him.
Doesn’t matter now.
He’s gone.
May God have mercy on him, because when the time comes, He won’t.
But she was his girlfriend and married to someone else. How pathetic.
Good Riddance! Hearts out to the Martinez family!
He is still dead, right?
‘After the first injection, Berkley gave a loud swallow. He had his eyes closed. At one point, he opened them, made a loud snoring sound, then closed his eyes again.’
GOOD! SOUNDS LIKE IT MIGHT HAVE HURT A LITTLE YOU SOB! And they said his brain dead chick bawled after..fuck that…Sounds like his death hurt far less than that poor beautiful girl..at least the scumbag is burning in hell…didn’t apologize or anything..scum of the earth…
What kind of women would marry some one like that!
Vote: http://goo.gl/6RrV
Done!
I wonder why they don’t show the running total?
But she was his girlfriend and married to someone else. How pathetic.
It’s time for another TEXECUTION!!!!!!!!!!!
GLAD HE IS DEAD.NOW BRITAIN/U.S.A. Need”each state”to have the death penalty,and speed it up as tx.
do death row penalty phase quick,well quicker than other states,within 10 years or less. i am happy he is dead as this clearly shall always deter a man or lady from thinkin’about killing some 1 deliberate like this.
Death Row is better than havin a guy woman etc. sit in prison livin’off of OUR paid taxes per day for them to marry in prison,have a bunch of pen pal(s)even get to work out sculpt body,enter into college online etc.
as well as EMAIL in some federal peniteniary i hear.DEATH ROW AS IN TEXAS SHOULD DETER AND WILL A PERSON FROM WANTING TO GO OUT AND DELIBERATELY DO SUCH A BRUTAL SENSELESS KILLING LIKE THIS,AS IN OTHER COUNTRIES SUCH A BRUTAL MURDER DO NOT HAPPEN LIKE THIS,AS THE PUNISHMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES ARE SWIFT,AND JUST. AMERICA IS WAY TOO SOFT ON CRIME.
AND NEED TO CIRCUMVENT THIS.
now:
AS A LAW STUDENT FUTURE WOMAN ATTORNEY I FEEL DEATH ROW IS BEST.
HOWEVER:
THE DEATH ROW PENALTY PHASE I HEAR DO NOT REALLY HURT,YOU GASP To take your LAST ostensible breath,big whoop. too EASY.but i will rather him as other nefarious beyond evil soul inhumane people,yes to get The ole’ treatment known in texas most such as a eye for an eye,as my father will say:
such punishment of this beautiful sweet innocent chica was long overdue,we are so happy he is now dead a year almost now.
i am a future attorney.current law student.for years. i attempt to look at the full picture NOT 1/2.Now i know for sure he did this.
however:
at”first”i was not sure. i was thinking that if there was not enough evidence,of such FACTUAL,
being presented at his trial then significantly later at the texas death penalty phase,i.e. no semen,dna,
finger print(s) etc. over at the scene i think i will not say he should be dead by lethal injection,
HOWEVER,in this case at 1st i was not sure if he did all of this due to a FUZZY on camera ATM photo.
i seen it over at another site,but then i read here
as other well establish blog,on the case there was surely SEMEN,at the scene right on her cuerpo(body)so adios. see ya.
william berkley this mean did kill her,rape etc. the poor bella hermosa mujer had NO CHANCE,rip chica.
your sister, beautiful mother and other sis was at the hearing/and then the death penalty phase,got to see your killer,go to HELL. i am happy.and though i do not blame the tall nice looking young/or older lady sittin there who became his girlfriend/pen pal on death row.this was her own choice to befriend him.that is her right.
so i really do not care nor do i sit here- do not blame her or fault her for becomin’a friend to this monster
many people do,but something in her must have wanted to see some”good in a murderer”who deliberately
kill her that is pathetic sure,but do not make her a horrid woman.Maybe she wanted to see what he would be like inside etc. who knows.
but i do not judge her.
and the fact that she is married,though is odd. but to each they own,HE IS GONE NOW.thank god and i wish MORE AMERICAN STATES,BRITAIN TOO WILL GET THE DEATH PENALTY and FASTER,as i see texas
do it many times a year! they do not play,and ALL are like within 1 to 10 years. that is really not bad,as i want to see EACH COUNTRY/STATE get it.
Much more killings deliberate murder etc. against children and adult all age,in the U.S. then any other country
and the reason is when your “lookin’at life in prison,get to talk on fone daily.night etc. work out perfect prison bod,and get to “find GOD”and “college course”degree,and a PEN PAL FULL COLOR NICE WEB PAGE. your NOT WORRIED ABOUT 1 DAY GETTIN CAUGHT.
but if your facing DEATH ROW from the day your caught,found guilty,YOUR GOIN TO THINK TWICE about
deliberate killing.
in all other countries,deliberate kill etc. do not happen this way cause the other country UNLIKE U.S.A.
have strict penalty as SWIFT.
and that is what the U.S.A. NEED to be more like texas.
sadly we are not.
but rip to sophia.
as justice truly as my father mother say in new york city/nj tri-state that JUSTICE YES WAS FINALLY REALLY SERVED…………………….NEED 2 NOW HAPPEN ALL OVER.NOT JUST TEXAS.
rip.
from [email protected]
Somebody’s on drugs…
well written very expressive. great post RED Future Atty..
i agree on all parts.
Rick Stanton Jr.
Austin Tx.
I used to know this p***y mother f**cker,worked at pockets in north east el paso real chicken shit!eye for an eye mother fu*cker rest in piss!!
Plain and simple, You play you pay~Sophia did not have to die in such a way. “Willey” will have his day in front of our Lord soon. Rest in Peace Sophia!
everyone of u r judgemental fools…..he who is without sin cast the first stone… he was young, on drugs, and he has paid for it…..who r u to b the judges!
Stop judging us!
/
Uh…not you no2liberals – the other one.
I knew that, I don’t have any. 8)
Show us your tits!
Sick bitches need to run into a serial killer…….Good luck in hell Willie!